Elijah: The Vampire King (The Hybrid Series) Book 8

Chapter 31: Missing Daughters

Barron

The hunt for Teku happened on my land a few days ago and the cleanup was still happening, my bears had a lot of fun, and a lot of money was made. King Tibiberius was a force to be reckoned with and we all knew it, that kid was vicious when he came down to it and I wouldn't want to be on his bad side, he was trained by the best and everyone knew it. I had a meeting with Elijah and I still had the s**t with Clarke to deal with. I had left Sophie in the bedroom to go to the office and she would join me later because a lot was going to happen in a few months as we advanced and adjustments would be made. I was shocked to learn Issy had returned, she was reincarnated into a woman's body named Summer and was mated to an Alpha, Sophia filled me in as we were cleaning up Lubartown. I was shocked but I was happy for her and everyone who knew was in a chirpy mood, Lily was beside herself at her daughter's return.

Kyan and Sophia seem to be happier than everyone else, Issy, however, has some demons to deal with before she returns to Frogger Forest and lets Ravena know that she is back. Sophia was about to head out to collect our son from preschool, I was going to go but was called into a quick meeting with Aidan and I kissed my wife as she headed out with guards trailing her. I went on my merry way and was in a meeting about how to handle Clarke going forward, he was going feral and we needed to stop it from progressing. Toffe filled us in on what I needed to do when I got a link from Sophia's guard saying she had vanished. I looked around panicking that I couldn't feel her once I let my block down, I let Aidan know and he tried to locate her, the aura in the room almost made us kneel as he yelled, "FIND MY DAUGHTER NOW!"

I knew this was going to get ugly pretty quickly as Lily started to panic, she just got one daughter back and she was not going to lose another. Aidan would burn Ravena down to find Sophie and I would join him in the chaos, he was not playing about his mates' happiness and his children however old they were, he loved them. Elijah was linking someone and we felt his aura change, Aidan noticed it too but he kept cool, we wanted to know what was plaguing him but we had more pressing matters happening right under our noses. We teleported to the last known whereabouts before Sophia was taken, and it wouldn't end well for the culprits. Aidan was not playing about his daughter and I was sure hell not playing about my mate.

******

Elijah

Piot linked me in the meeting, he found the last ingredient but it was not what we expected and I told him I would meet him after the meeting. I knew that it was Lauren who had taken Sophie as she became obsessed these last few months especially being out here visiting for a few days, I don't know if this was a coincidence or not. I sent Kolie to check on her just in case someone was setting my daughter up, I knew the scarf they found belonged to Lauren because I gave it to her and the look on Aidan's face as he looked at me, I could feel his disappointment in me but he was not going to out me to everyone as he asked to speak to me in private. We all ended up back in Vampora because Sophia was here, I explained to the others about Lauren after Jasper had given his blood to Aidan to see who he was talking about and Aidan knew my secret just like that but said nothing.

I ended up taking Barron with me to the mental institution that housed Lauren for a while so we could talk to the doctor about her mental state. This is where we found out Lauren had been stalking Barron for a while now and I was shocked that I missed it. Lauren was not an overall bad person, she was just misunderstood, reading what I was allowed to read, she just wanted love but always caught it in the wrong places, even the incident with my mate, it was a misunderstanding, something triggered her off. She stabbed him and the only reason I didn't kill her was that she was an illegitimate daughter from before I was mated. I never told anyone about her because she disappeared and I allowed myself to be complacent because her mother was a w***e I kept f*****g, she was different and understood me.

Her mother begged me to take her after giving birth so she would not end up like her but something happened along the way and something is seriously wrong with Lauren and I do try with her. I let my third in command raise her as his daughter hiding my secret, he was always loyal to me and took on the role until we told her the truth, I made some mistakes with her that I regretted. Aidan knows the truth, I guess that is why he singled me out and eventually I would have to tell Marie and Jasper, even Eli. My mother doesn't even know and right now, I need to find her before Barron does, I left the Palace to go to her last known hideout.

*****

Blair was already at the last place Lauren lived and she was shocked looking at the walls, she hadn't visited in a while because Lauren was doing well, what could have possibly made her snap? Something was seriously wrong here and my mind was jumbled, I couldn't think straight. I saw tears in my granddaughter's eyes and held her hand when she said, "Are the Supremes still looking for her?" I nodded yes and she asked, "Will they kill her?" I said, "No, but we have to find her," I turned Blair to me and said, "Don't cry, I will work out something," and before I turned to leave, she asked, "Is the Bear King, my father?" I didn't know what to say so I just nodded finally admitting it to her, even though it was possible that he was not and we headed out to find Lauren before the others found her first. We headed up the mountain to the cabin and I knew we were on the right track, the place was gloomy, perfect for night walkers as they are hardly any sunlight in these parts.

The place had rogues all over and we prepared for a fight, my granddaughter could take care of herself as we didn't want her vulnerable after what happened to Lauren. Our biggest mistake was to think that we could protect her always and she was taken advantage of, we trusted everyone in that party. I executed everyone on that list but some people were there who weren't on the list, even staff was executed. The men not on the list would be her abusers, there was something off about the area, and the closer I got I knew why, it was stained with black magic. I entered the building and saw Lauren hitting her head on the wall and I stopped her, she looked at me saying, "Dad, I will have Barron, he loves me." She believed it in her head and I felt so sorry for her, I said, "No, baby," and I ran to where I heard Sophia scream. I didn't hesitate to snap one guy's neck and drain the other of his blood, the rage I felt as I smelled my daughter on him, she was violated again and probably didn't even know it.

My granddaughter started to assist Sophie after I apologized linking Aidan, they were there in a flash along with Barron who came moments later to see Aidan hug Sophia. She was crying and Barron said, "Where is Lauren?" She jumped in his arms saying, "My love, you came for me," and Sophie growled before Aidan stopped everyone. I pulled Lauren off knocking her out with a little spell I learned over the years and we all teleported back to Vampora. Maggie escaped, she was nowhere inside the cabin, she knew we would come for Sophia and I wondered why she risked it until my men ran into missionaries who were on their way for not only Sophia but Lauren. I had my men looking for her along with a few Witches and Bears, Aidan wanted her arrested and tried for her crimes unless it can't be helped and she is killed.

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Two Days Later

I eventually had to come clean because this was getting out of hand, Maggie the witch, escaped but was traced back to Elivira and Emile was on the lookout for her. Piot had found a cure but I needed to go over the list of ingredients before we had it cooked up to give Lauren. Aidan was on board in saving my daughter after I told him everything or he saw it in my blood and understood my predicament, but I needed to come clean to the people I cared about to forgive me and accept Lauren. Everyone asked why I kept her a secret and honestly, it was fear of disappointment looking at my mother, seeing how much she and the Kingdom looked up to me since my father disappeared unexpectedly when I was young.

My sister had moved away, I was all the Kingdom had left to look up to, and I had a lot of skeletons in the closet but this was one that I couldn't control. Everyone spoke among themselves until Sophie asked the question that I was waiting for, "Why is Lauren obsessed with my husband and who is Blair's father?" Barron said, "I had an on-and-off relationship with Lauren before she went all crazy, that explains why Elijah hated me going to Laurens's house back then." He looked at me and said, "You should have told me, I never meant any disrespect," and I smiled saying, "There's more," and Aidan started laughing saying, "Blair is your daughter, Barron."

Blair smiled at Barron and he stood there like a fish out of the water as he was speechless, Sophie opened her eyes in shock and Jasper looked at me flabbergasted. Aidan got up and said, "Take your time, Barron, it will sink in," before he teleported out of the room. Barron mind-linked me, "This isn't over, Elijah you snake, we got a lot to talk about," and I nodded giving him time to meet Blair as she was happy to have finally met her father. I walked outside to see my father, Johrir looking at me disappointed when I said, "Not now father," before my mother walked up to him slapped him, and yelled, "You cheated on me," and I looked at him when he said, "I am sorry, Mina, it's not what you think," but she walked off angry. I looked at him saying, "She will come around but did you cheat on her because you have a son Ravena will finally know about?"