Lyla was on the phone with the police to see if they'd received any updates. Any hope of having the case upgraded was now fading. At the moment, Lyla would have been happy to have a detective show a small amount of interest. That was a far-fetched wish, all she had was patrol cops and Eloise being put onto a long list of missing people.

As expected, the police had nothing. Lyla could barely hear anything the woman was saying. Even in the kitchen, the noise was so loud.

Hanging up the phone, Lyla stormed through to the lounge room. Lennon was sitting on the carpet in front of the stereo system. He was playing music loudly, a heavy thumping song that he was singing to as well. Stalking over, Lyla flicked the power button and glowered at the vampire.

"My daughter is missing." she hissed. "You're just wasting my time."

"Am not. I'm waiting for Adley."

Above them, something thumped, then it sounded like something broke. Lyla huffed and walked to the staircase. More thumping sounds, more things falling and breaking.

When she reached the doorway to Eloise's bedroom, Lyla stopped and stared. The wardrobe was empty. Every single item of her clothes was sprawled out over the floor, as well as the bed linen.

Adley was on his hands and knees, sniffing the material, banging into things as he moved.

"What the hell is he doing?"

Lennon shrugged.

"You want him to find her on a scent alone. He has to make sure he gets the right one. The problem with most things is that there will be a lot of smells on them. How many times has she hugged you in each of those clothes? What about her friends? Maybe even the guy that she's with. A dog in the park, drinks spilled, stepped in bird poop, laundry detergent, perfumes. You know what's the worst for a werewolf? Cleanliness. Sweating it up a little is totally cool for them, but all those soaps with perfumes, deodorant, hairspray. Even makeup has a scent that can throw a werewolf off. Fresh, clean clothes, smelling like they've just taken a dip in some fruity concoction, totally bad. No, you know what's the worst? Nail polish remover. That stink hangs around for like, ever. Have you ever walked past one of those shops where they do the false nails? Pew-eww."

"Okay," she groaned. "I get it."

Lyla believed that Lennon lacked the ability to shut up. It was all that she wanted right now. She thought that even if she got a needle and thread and sewed his mouth shut, he'd still talk. What did her dear mother use to say? He could talk underwater with a mouth full of marbles.

Adley got up and walked to the door, feeling rather eager for the night ahead. He found a common scent in everything that he searched. He'd found the kid's marker.

Lyla gestured to the mess with annoyance on her face.

"How about you clean that up?"

Adley scoffed and walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, buddy, I'm hearing you," Lennon muttered.

He turned to Lyla with the kind of face that made Lyla realise that she wasn't going to get them to pick up the mess.

"We're not a cleaning service. Besides, after everything that the brat has put you through, she should be made to do it as punishment. Let's go."

"She's not a brat!" Lyla protested.

"Pretty sure she is. Adley said there are condoms in her top drawer."

"What?"

"He also did a little research. Apparently, her diary is rather gory with the details. You might want to steer clear of it if you think she's an angel."

Lennon stopped at the front door; his eyes narrowed at the rain. It was a long way to the club, and he didn't want to turn up a soggy mess. Well, not any more than he was. At least being in the house for an hour or so meant that they'd dried off reasonably well.

"You found condoms? Are you sure?"

Adley looked at the weird human and then at the vampire. Lennon shrugged at him, offering no help at all. With a grunt, he turned out of the house and walked into the rainy night.

"Yeah, okay," Lennon called out.

He turned to the woman who was frowning with confusion.

"We're going to wait here for a while."

"Why?"

Lennon shrugged.

"I have no idea, but while we're waiting, you should probably find something better than this nonsense."

Lyla looked down at her clothes. They were comfortable, and she didn't have to think about anything in this outfit. All that mattered was that she could cope with whatever the world threw at her.

"This is fine for searching in cold weather."

"Yeah, but we're going into vampire territory, and if you don't look the part, they'll shut the door on you, and there are no second chances. So, on that note, let's get you naked."

Before she could protest, Lennon turned to the stairs in search of her bedroom. Lyla flicked the door shut and chased after him. Lennon was already at the top of the stairs, searching for her bedroom.

"Please don't put my clothes on the floor."

"Why would I do that? I'm not searching for you, am I?"

Lennon flicked through the clothes, scraping the hangers over the metal pole in a desperate attempt to find something that would suit the world that he inhabited. Lyla had no idea what she was about to face, and going into it dressed like she'd lost the will to live was not going to help her.

He found a long black skirt, knee high boots and tossed them onto the bed. Then he started rummaging through her drawers, ignoring the protests. As much as Lennon thought that it would be fun to pull out all her frilly panties and tease her, he decided against it. He didn't really know her or how she'd react, even if it was done in fun.

So, he selected more appropriate drawers. One purple skivvy and black opaque tights added, and she was good to go.

"I'm going to freeze my ass off."

"You won't be out in the cold for long."

Lennon stood at the end of the bed with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. Lyla was curved to perfection. He salivated at the thought of the next few minutes.

"Get out."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But we've got a lot of time to kill. Adley will be ages."

"What's he really doing?"

With a shrug, Lennon took hold of the door handle and began to close the door.

"Probably finding a car. Are you sure you want me to go?"

"Absolutely."

"Because I could really go for a quick,"

Lyla pushed the vampire out the door, slamming it shut in his face.

"You didn't let me finish," he called out. "I'm not averse to screwing humans."

"My daughter is missing. How could you even suggest that?"

Lyla ignored his reasons that it would help her mentally or that she needed to relax a little. The only thing that Lyla wanted was Eloise back in this house, alive and safe.

When she was dressed, Lyla ran the brush through her hair and tied it back into a bun. Even though Lennon hadn't selected a jacket, Lyla still pulled one out. When she grabbed her bag, Lyla stopped. A slight frown filled her face as she heard Lennon talking. Adley had returned.

A thought entered her mind as she walked to the door. Lennon said that Adley was going to get a car, not his car. With a lot of fear, she opened the door and went in search of the two creatures. They were at the bottom of the stairs.

One was all smiles and jokes. The other was his usual gruff self. When Lyla looked at Adley, she wondered how no one had figured out he was not human or a vampire. How had she not seen other werewolves? Were they all built like Adley, or was he just unusually tall?

"When you said that Adley was going to get a car, what did you mean?"

Lennon gestured to the car that was haphazardly parked. He'd mounted the sidewalk and almost hit the light pole. The door was still open, and the lights were on. Lyla wondered why the windscreen wipers were halfway across the glass.

When she looked at the car, Lyla assumed the worst. She knew the truth. It was not his car. Lyla would happily bet all the money in her wallet that it wasn't even Lennon's car. She firmly believed that it was stolen.

"He got us a car to go to the club in."

"You mean he stole a car."

"To-mae-to, to-mah-to."

"I am not getting into a stolen vehicle."

"Then you, my dear, have a very long walk ahead of you. We will meet you there. Come on, Adds, ignore the unappreciative one."