Chapter 171: Southern Avenue
“What time is it”? That’s the first thing Caleb asked as he woke up. He didn’t realize when he drifted off, but going more than three rounds when you are not in heat is draining in itself. Not that he was complaining.
“It’s around three,” Ashton replied as he hugged him tightly, “Good morning sleeping Beauty”.
Caleb snorted at his mate’s words, “Really? We are using nicknames now”?
“You call me Ash all the time, I don’t see why not?” Ashton challenged.
“I do”? Confused, Caleb asked.
“Yeah” Ashton let out a gentle laugh, “You are not aware of it”?
Caleb chuckled. “No, Never realised it.”
.....
“You do it mostly during sex” Ashton whispered in Caleb’s ears and soon recieved a smack from Caleb. “Ouch”! Ashton winced in pain only to receive glares from his mate. Suddenly Caleb’s phone buzzed drawing both of their attention. “What is it”? Ashton asked Caleb, who was checking his phone.
“It’s a message from Karolyn, she informed me that she is done with her classes and that she is ready whenever we are.
“Great, are you ready”? Ashton asked.
Caleb thought for a moment, “I think we should go now” Ashton waited for Caleb to continue as he paused, “By this time most of the institutions close now. It’s possible that Axel might show up wherever they live. We should go”.
“You sure you can move”? Ashton asked, half teasing half concerned.
“I hope so, or you are carrying me” Caleb huffed.
“You know I would be happy to do that right” Ashton brought his face closer to Caleb’s and gave him a cheeky smile.
“Shut up” Caleb scorned and got out of bed and got ready as soon as he could. He texted Karolyn and all of them met up in front of the university. “So what’s the plan?” She asked.
“I was hoping, maybe we could stalk him?” Caleb shrugged. “Since we lack smell he won’t be able to detect us”.
“Well, if I am with you he might, I have my own scent”. Karolyn reminded Caleb. “Should I stay back”? She offered.
“Maybe you can keep an eye on Lily,” Ashton proposed. He wasn’t sure how he felt about abducting her like that, but then again she didn’t hesitate an ounce to attack them, so his feelings were definitely mixed. He didn’t mind himself, but he would never forgive someone trying to hurt his mate, however accidental it might be.
“You got it” Karolyn nodded and left.
“Let’s go,” Caleb sighed as they drove off with their car.
The Southern Avenue was a big area that was situated in the hub of the metropolitan city they lived in. This place seemed to have more people than they did back at Crescent Point. Looking for anyone in a crowd like this was going to be tricky, but luckily they had their sense of smell which would be triggered by a vampire.
“Where do we start?” Ashton who looked a bit overwhelmed, asked.
“Should we split up?” Caleb suggested. “We have a lot of area to cover, maybe this way we can find him soon”.
“No!” Ashton defended immediately.
“Why not”? Caleb frowned, clearly offended by the sudden denial of his mate.
“What happens when one of us finds him? One of us can get in serious trouble if we are face to face with him all by ourselves.” Ashton explained. He was more worried about Caleb than himself, but then again he knew how defensive Caleb would get if he mentioned that.
“Then that one of us links the other” Caleb shrugged clearly not missing whom Ashton was trying to imply. “I am not saying we should confront him head on. Whoever finds him first calls the other and we go together. Heck we can even plan as we go thanks to our ability to link” Caleb suggested.
“That’s... actually a good idea,” Ashton nodded his head.
“Of course it is. We do stuff like this all the time in our pack. In facts that’s one of the many ways to run a group search” Caleb snorted. “You start from there, I’ll take over from here” He pointed at two opposite sides of the same alley which was adjacent to the store right in front of them. Before Ashton could agree Caleb had vanished which left Ashton no choice but to go with as he was asked.
Ashton felt Caleb connect twice on his way to see how far along he was. This whole thing was taking frustratingly long until after a whole hour a tinge of a pungent smell hit Ashton’s nose. Following the scent he found himself following a woman who appeared to be in her late thirties. She had brown hair with blonde streaks that made her stand out from the rest. From the appearance of it, it appeared as if she was out here shopping for stuff.
Ashton tried his best to take interest in local stuff that would make his stalking inapparent. Once she was done she headed off to a less crowded area making it hard for Ashton to blend in the crowd as he followed. Should he contact Caleb? Or should he figure out first where she was headed?
Choosing to go with the latter he found her going to a beautiful house situated at a level higher than the road as a separate path led to the door. Ashton stayed back and linked Caleb while showing him the path he took.
A few minutes later Caleb showed up next to him, [You sure this is their house?] Linking once more, Caleb asked his mate.
[I saw a blonde Vampire walk in, so... let’s see] Ashton replied.
Keeping a watch on the house was exhausting. It was like staring at a buffering video. It was looking at the same thing while they consciously waited for something to happen. [It’s getting dark. Maybe we should go back] Ashton suggested to Caleb, who was sitting on the ground and appeared on the verge of dozing off.
[No, I am fine. We need to do this. Today itself] Caleb refused adamantly while he blinked vigorously.
Taking a seat right next to Caleb he wrapped his right arm around his mate’s shoulder and brought him closer to his body. [You look tired, you need rest. I will stay back] he said softly in the link.
[And what? Face him all by yourself? Nuh-uh!] He protested. [I am clearly a better talker than you are!]
[Sure you are, but right now you are sleep deprived and a bit agitated. You can’t make you way through your words in this state] Ashton tried to reason with him..
[I’m still not leaving you all by yourself] Caleb declared.
[How about I call you when he comes, and then we face him together?] Ashton proposed.
[What if he disappears by the time I get here. The whole trip would be wasted] Caleb frowned despite all the words being spoken mentally.
Ashton paused for a minute as he considered the situation at hand [How about you take a nap here? I’ll simply wake you up when I spot Axel or something]
Caleb’s frown deepened [I can’t. This place is uncomfortable]
Ashton chuckled as he mused at the fact that his mate was accustomed to comfort when it came to falling asleep. As for Ashton? He could even fall asleep as he stood.
Ashton pulled away his arm from Caleb’s shoulder only to place both of them on his waist. He pulled him so that Caleb’s body rested on Ashton’s such that Caleb’s back rested on his giant chest. [What are you doing?] Caleb asked once Ashton was done positioning them.
[You said you were uncomfortable] Ashton said innocently.
[You think this is comfortable?] Caleb asked sarcastically. A visible frown appeared on Ashton’s face as he let go of Caleb’s waist, but before he could pull away properly Caleb put his own hands over Ashton and held them such that he was completely snuggled with his mate. [Cause you are right, this is very comfortable]
Getting so comfy on Ashton’s lap, Ashton realized that from this angle Caleb looked quite adorable. Unable to resist, he planted a soft kiss on Caleb’s cheek. Caleb laughed a little before he closed his eyes and relaxed.
In less than 10 minutes Ashton could hear soft snoring noises coming from Caleb who laid in his arms perfectly still. While Ashton didn’t mind the noise he wondered if it would draw attention or not. He tried to shift his mate a little in the efforts to eliminate the snoring but that wasn’t much effective. All the time they had been there this was probably their noisiest and he just hoped this was not enough to draw attention.
After sitting like that for almost 2 hours Ashton’s back finally started to give away. He didn’t want to alarm Caleb who was sound asleep so he maintained the same position nevertheless. After a while he noticed the same scrawny teenage looking vampire they have been looking for the entire time. To reconfirm Ashton actively sniffed in the air around him just to confirm his scent.
He observed Axel as he started at the house for a long minute. What Ashton found even more peculiar that instead of going in he took an alternative route and walked away. Ashton pondered for a second why Axel did what he did before he realised that maybe sitting here for much longer won’t help their cause.
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