Page 8 of Saving Dakota

“Are they a couple?”

"No, just good friends, according to Eric. She isn't from the reservation, but they met working in town at the pizza shop last year." He paused for a moment and then added. "Eric is gay, and as far as I know, he hasn't had any serious relationships in that regard."

“Whose idea was the trip to Traverse City?” Terrance asked thinking that perhaps Ivy wasn’t the person they were assuming.

"His sister Paula said they announced it together, and Eric made it sound like something they decided on as a nice getaway before he started his new job." Dakota glanced at Terrance, reading his meaning and giving him a slight nod. "Ivy, although friends with Eric, never got close with his family or spent time on the reservation."

"Ethan completed a background check on Ivy Lee," Terrance announced as he got the notice and skimmed through it quickly. "She's still in Traverse City staying with a cousin. She said that Eric continued on to Mt. Pleasant to do some fishing, but according to her, he wasn't planning on staying long." As he finished the report, Sheriff Keller got an alert.

"They found his vehicle." He announced the location and gave it to Terrance. "Deputy Walsh will go with you." Terrance patted Dakota on the arm, and he followed him out the door. Terrance noticed Kass heading into his office and considered the fact that he would not want to be Lawson right now. Kass was a stickler for professionalism and treating everyone with respect two things that were sorely lacking in Lawson’s treatment of Detective Lieutenant Winters.

He could feel Dakota’s excitement about the lead and hoped it rendered further information as to Eric’s whereabouts. “It was spotted by a DNR officer by the river south of town. It’s a popular spot for fishing so he might have gone there with that goal in mind.” Terrance offered.

"That doesn't explain why he hasn't answered his phone or why he has not contacted his sister in over a week," Dakota stated.

“True.” Terrance added and he started to wonder as to whether or not Eric would be found alive. The possibility of a tragedy having taken place was high and he was sure that Dakota was thinking the same thing.

“He may have suffered an accident.” Dakota put it out there. “I honestly don’t feel the heaviness of death I feel that Eric is here somewhere, and my intuition is usually correct.” Terrance reached over placing his hand over Dakota’s. To his delight Dakota took his hand and held it in a grip that was firmand purposeful. Terrance enjoyed the aura of his beloved and the enveloping scent of his presence.

Silence took them after getting into the SUV and heading out, both caught up in their own thoughts. After about twenty miles, Terrance ultimately pulled off the road and onto the state park land leading to the river. He hoped so hard that Eric was not dead he didn’t want to present his beloved with something so disheartening and sad. He wanted to find this young man well and in one piece for the sake of Dakota.

“This boy is important to you.” Terrance sensed that there was more to the assignment than just a law officer searching for a missing person.

"Eric's parents died when he was twelve, and his sister Paula, who had a life elsewhere and was building a career, dropped everything to come home and raise him. She gave up a lot and put her life on hold in order to provide for him." Dakota was on the edge of becoming emotional, but after a few deep breaths, he continued. "For everything she sacrificed, it cannot end like this. It can't all be for nothing." Terrance felt his distress and, in that moment, would have done anything to make it go away. He squeezed his hand.

"We'll find him, Dakota." He said it, and it was a pledge.

Terrance pulled up to the turn out by the river and they got out walking a short path to the riverside and saw the small blue Ford. “This is his vehicle.” Dakota announced and began looking it over without touching it. Soon Deputy Walsh arrived, and they did a thorough check of the vehicle. It was perfectly clean no sign of either Eric or Ivy.

"It cleaned out," Dakota stated. "Eric kept his car clean, but not this clean and definitely not while on a fishing trip." Terrance and Deputy Walsh, who was also a vampire, exchangedglances. Both had picked up on the scent of a vampire clinging to the vehicle. It wasn't a DuCane member, and this scent was acrid with tones of decay. It was the smell of rogue, and it sent a chill through them both. It did not bode well for young Eric to be in the company of such a creature, but there was no smell of death not in the vehicle or in the immediate area.

It appeared as though the car was cleaned out and dumped at the river’s edge. There was no evidence of a human being in it there was only the putrid smell of rogue. Whoever the vampire was they had been touched by some sort of black magic.

It could perhaps be the young vampire that Caleb had warned them about. He relayed all of this to Walsh when Dakota wandered to the water's edge and crouched down, staring into the water.

Walsh called it in requesting additional officers to search the area. Terrance walked over to Dakota and stood next to him and waited. “Eric was never here. I don’t feel his presence. Someone other than him brought that car here and parked it for us to find.”

“I agree with you and so does Walsh. They’re canvassing the city to hopefully find out where he was staying before he disappeared. It will give a starting point in our search. Sheriff Keller will keep us informed.” Terrance tried to give him some hope.

"I checked all the cheaper motels and flop joints, and he hadn't stayed at any of them. I think whatever happened took place shortly after he arrived in town. He is a very capable outdoorsman and would have no problem camping almost anywhere. It leaves the possibilities wide open." Dakota continued to stare at the water as he spoke with Terrance.

Terrance was getting a strange vibe from the river, and he was pretty sure Dakota was feeling it, too. He placed his hand on Dakota's shoulder and squeezed, and Dakota leaned into it. "What do you feel?" Dakota asked. "Every nightwalker I've known has had the ability to scent out people, beings, and even highly charged situations." He turned and looked up at Terrance.

"He wasn't in the car when it was dumped here. The scent inside the car is sharp and acrid, indicating something otherworldly is involved, just as you thought." Terrance was careful with what he said, not wanting to give too much supernatural information until he was sure of Dakota's understanding.

“Otherworldly?” He asked with a slight squint.

“Not human.” Terrance clarified.

“I’d like to walk the river for a ways.” Dakota requested without further comment on the word, otherworldly, and Terrance nodded and fell into step beside him. “I’m getting something from these waters.” He announced after a few minutes of silence. “It’s not powerful but still hanging in the air. Probably not from Eric or whoever it was that stole his car.” Dakota was speaking his thoughts as he ruminated over the information he knew and what he was feeling.

"Not long ago, a water mage used this river to escape detention. His beloved, a powerful vampire mystic, followed him, and he used the river to follow him. It could be their essence that you are feeling." Terrance offered an explanation.

"It all worked out for the best, I hope." Dakota flashed a smile that set everything in Terrance's heart and mind on fire. The wash of pleasure that came over him at that slight expression was stunning.

“It turned out nice for both of them and the DuCane coven gained a very powerful alliance.” Dakota stopped and looked around then looked up at Terrance.

“It’s a feeling that’s vibrating in the air.” He held his hand out as if touching something. “Do you feel it, Terrance?"

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