AUTHOR'S POV, Later that day
Lucas had figured that if Diana had briefly returned to Scott, and found her way to her best friend thereafter, there's no place else for her to go but her home. She wouldn't dare step her foot on the Woodsworth Mansion for obvious reasons, and so, he thought Diana would come home at some point. And maybe somehow, they find her there, or at least a clue to her whereabouts. "If Scott's protected by lythari magic, we shouldn't eagerly mess with him", Lucas told Cory, as they arrive at the building where Diana lives .
"He must have gotten it from the Valley of the Falls. I thought he hated those critters?", Cory said, turning off the car ignition.
"Shut it. You won't know if one hears ya", Lucas warned, stepping out of the car.
"Right..", Cory lowers down his voice. Anyway, I never thought the Luna and her girl are completely badasses", he says, clicking the lock system of his car, tossing the key to the valet.
"Same", Lucas lifted his brows brows briefly. "You can't even land a punch on their faces", he teases.
"No way!", Cory pushes Lucas on his arm. "I mean, Randall? It's a shocker, really. I wonder what's the weres would do after that. And Roman? Sheesh", Cory seethed air between his teeth, thinking about it. "Them girls need their walls up".
On their way in, they spotted Sebastian entering the building too. He was looking frail, tired and empty as if life lately hasn't been good to him too. He had a coffee cup in his hand, sipping it too generously. Sebastian pretended he didn't see them. He had no reason to stop anyway. Ever since the moonbath, the pack's indifference toward the Devlin family is undeniable which was understandable. But, Lucas and Cory had a different mindset. They bee-lined to Sebastian, stopping him at the elevator.
"Hey Seb! How you holding up?", Cory blocked the elevator, lifting a beam at Sebastian.
Drawing near Sebastian, Lucas could smell the liquor out of Sebastian's coffee cup. "Ain't that drink too strong at a time like this?", he looks at the paper cup resting in Sebastian's hand.
Sebastian needed something that helps him sleep. The alcohol does it. It keeps the ghosts away. It isn't something that he is proud of, not even a thing to flaunt in public. "Act like you really care boys", Sebastian tried to push his way to the elevator but Cory, despite inches smaller than him, didn't budged. "What do you want?", he said in a harsh tone. His bitterness have grown to the entire pack that have sided with Scott without letting a single day pass to listen to his deep emotional grief.
"Seb", Lucas turned to Sebastian. Being best friends with Scott, Sebastian have became like brother to him too. What the Devlins did to the Luna was way out of line. However, what happened to Sebastian is beyond words too. Choosing Scott's side and standing by him was never turning their backs on the clan. While Sebastian had the Devlins, Scott had no one but them. And now, he wants to look past everything between them, set everything straight, and finally, work on the same page. "Diana doesn't seem to be just straying away anymore."
"Hasn't she been hiding for quite a while now? That looked like much of a good choice to me, doesn't it?", Sebastian laughed bitterly, breath smelling like whiskey.
"I think she's been taken.", Lucas noticed the twitch on Sebastian's jaw at that.
"What makes you say that?", he asked, drinking the remaining liquor in his cup.
"A thought", Lucas shrugged.
"Yeah, right", Sebastian crushed his empty coffee cup and tossed it in the bin near the elevator. "That's one senseless thought you got there, Luc".
"...we need your help", Cory finally said.
"How sure are you I'd lend a hand?", Sebastian huffed, furrowing his brows. "Scott doesn't even care. I heard he has a new Luna?", he gaze went sharper, remembering how Scott despises the sound of her name. "So, what's the point of getting Diana back? You guys are some 'loyal' pack huh?", he scoffed, roughly jostled against Cory's shoulder as he force himself to the elevator, ready to flash his keycard on the elevator's sensor.
"Because of all the people out there, you're one of the people who's desperate enough to find her", Lucas looked at Sebastian in the eyes, and not one blink occurred to them. The plain nonchalant Sebastian who risked his life for Diana against a lycan.
Sebastian's hand with his key card stopped midair. He shifted his gaze on the two. Then, his phone rings, takes it out from his pocket, and sees Roman's name on the screen. Desperate. That word from Lucas mouth rang in his ears, more than the call with the name appearing on his phone. He steps out of the elevator. "What do you want me to do?", Sebastian ignores the call, keeping his phone back in his pocket.
"We need to get up her house", Lucas tells him.
"I've checked there many times. You won't see anything", Sebastian choked, but Lucas and Cory heard it well. Sebastian has been keeping tabs on her. "You can't just go up. You need an access card", Sebastian lifted his keycard on his face. He looks at the reception desk with a brown man in a black tailored suit guarding it. "Let's see if your charms still work", he knew that Dave, the stringent receptionist of the day, wouldn't give them a pass.
And he was right.
Lucas' charisma didn't work, and Cory was too slow to swipe the access cards from Dave's drawers. In fact, he couldn't even go near anywhere beyond the table. Sebastian found them entertaining, watching nearby with his legs crossed on a high wing back lounge chair in brown leather. With wounded prides, Lucas and Cory slumped on the sectional sofa beside him with their dejected faces. "There's another way".
"And you just didn't had to say it earlier", Lucas' eyes went round, straightening up. That poor encounter with Dave did lowered his confidence.
"That's for taking Scott's side, and not listening to mine", they called it even after that. Laughing just like the old times. "We can take the fire exit. You guys go, I'll distract Dave".
The three snuck their way into the fire exit, one by one. With Sebastian the last one to get out, Lucas and Cory have already recognized the faint wolf scent lingering somewhere between the new paint and dusts. Whether it was Sebastian's or his men, they cannot tell. They went up the spiraling concrete staircase. Not one drop of sweat broke out of their skin. No conversations interrupted the soft sound of their footsteps.
At floor 12, Lucas paused. Not because he was tired but because it felt like he had to. He looked down the stairs' vortex pattern in alabaster. Blinked a few times, before turning away. "You good?", Cory asked, waiting a few plights up.
"Yea", Lucas answered briefly.
The three reached floor 21, huffing. No way on earth they will climb up some stairs anytime soon. Sebastian reached for the emergency door to Diana's flat. He was expecting that it was already open, but he was surprised that it is locked from the inside. He glanced over his shoulder at Lucas, thinking his thoughts about Diana being taken might be right. He busted the door open, breaking the lock. "This way", he said, entering Diana's home. Lucas and Cory followed in. "See? No one here", Sebastian circled with his palms up.
It was quiet.
A terrible silence of an empty home. The strong scent of the moonflowers spread in all corners of the room, but underneath its fragrance, a hint of a wolf scent hides. Cory went upstairs. Sebastian went all the way back, to the kitchen. Lucas' eyes swept across the room. Dusts coated most surfaces, but not all. That's when he started looking closely. He crouched, tilted his head towards the floor. He found shoe prints disrupting the thick dust on the surface. A pair. No, two.
He followed the track, and it stopped right by the couch in the living room. He looked back at the foyer where he walked by, and noticed an outlined shape as if someone had lain in there. Sebastian steps in saying staring at Lucas going Sherlock Holmes behind a chair. "She came home", Lucas murmured, dusting off his hands.
Sebastian folded his arms, incredibly in awe at Lucas' good eye to details. "You got that from dust?".
"She entered the emergency exit.", Lucas figured, for there were no clean streaks by the elevator. "But she stopped there", he pointed by the foyer. Sebastian walks towards the entryway, bends over to check the what Lucas had seen. "She saw someone standing right here.", looks down on his spot, before searching around for more clues. There were signs of struggle, that Lucas assumes the Luna might have known the person who intruded her home.
Cory descends from the stairs, sneezing. "No Luna up there", he sees Lucas piercing gazes on every furniture, while Sebastian checks out the porcelain displays on the console table in the foyer. "What are you guys up to?", he draws near Lucas, wondering what were they exactly looking for.
Sebastian studied every porcelain display and art pieces lined up in an unusual asymmetry on the hall table. He took time trying to see whatever is there, exactly how Lucas does. When he was about to turn away, one vase caught his eyes. It was moved, seemingly unaligned with the others that were straightened well across the table top. He picked the heavy glassware and surprisingly, he found blood at the bottom of it. It smelled like Diana.
Meanwhile, Cory bends down the floor and checks underneath the furniture. His caught something shiny and picked it up. "Hey guys. A clue, maybe?", knowing Diana never wears a ring. He held it up showing the gold band designed with masculinity.
Lucas and Cory noticed Sebastian staring at the ring with his eyes wide open. "I know whom that ring is", he said.