A friendly invite

CHAPTER EIGHT

A Friendly Invite

“I will help you,” Lucian assured the trembling girl. Since she had the courage to come to him, it was only right that he didn't disappoint her. 

Her teary eyes looked up at him, shining with fresh hope. That alone was enough to fuel his determination not to disappoint her. 

“I have a couple of classes to handle today. So meet me by 1pm, alright? I will fix this,” he assured her. 

1pm? 

Elle hit her lip. That seemed a little too far but she was ready to risk it. It was only a couple of hours away, after all. She just had to try her best to avoid Artemis until then. 

What could possibly go wrong?

“Elle?” Lucian called when he noticed she was a little lost in thoughts. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You can hold on until then, right?” 

She bopped her head quickly. At least he was offering to help unlike other staff members who would simply turn a blind eye or ask her to bear it. 

“Thank you professor,” she mumbled, a little uneasy. 

Lucian patted her back again to reassure her. He would have taken her to the board immediately but he was already five minutes late for his class and he had a row of classes after that. 

After Elle left his office, Lucian headed for class. As usual, Artemis was absent. At this point, Lucian could deduce that the boy only came to school to bully others. 

He would have to bring this to the board. Artemis already missed the first quiz he gave the class and now, he was just about to miss the second one. 

If Artemis wasn't going to take his studies seriously then there was no point of keeping him in Kingston. He could as well drop out. 

Lucian managed to finished all his classes for the day as quickly as possible. It was a few minutes to 1pm and he was fired up to help Elle. 

He reached his office, half expecting to find her waiting but there was no sign of her. He didn't think much of it and entered his office. 

He had been in such a hurry earlier that he didn't bother to lock up. Dropping his laptop on his desk, he slumped into his seat and picked up his water bottle.

He was about to take a sip of the vodka when he spotted the letter on the desk. He was too distracted earlier to notice it, he must have dropped his laptop on top of it. 

Curiosity got the better of him as he pulled out the letter, dropping his vodka.

The handwriting was the first thing that caught his attention. The first time he'd seen these cursive letters were on Shawn's body. 

“Good day, Professor.

     As usual, you're in my business again so I thought I'd make things easier for you this time. Meet me at restricted area 5. Let's have a little play date with my new friend. Don't be late, Professor, wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun.”

Lucian's grip tightened around the edges of the letter. Apparently, even a few hours was too long. He couldn't imagine what Artemis had gone to Elle in that time. 

Dammit! He should have taken her straight to the board and fucked those classes. 

Lucian immediately got off his seat. There was no time to wallow in regret. He had to get to her somehow. 

He grabbed the bottle and took a long gulp of the vodka and slammed the bottle on the desk. 

“Fucking punk!” He cursed under his breath and began heading towards the area Artemis mentioned.

It was just at the back of the technology labs. Lucian glanced at his watch. 

1:05pm.

It shouldn't take long. He was just going to get in there and retrieve Elle. Maybe even rough up Artemis a little bit. 

Area 5 was an uncompleted building and it made it a perfect site for the delinquent's hangout. 

He walked inside and he could smell pot. It wasn't surprising either. Downstairs was empty so he took the stairs and he could hear voices and laughter. 

Lucian paused in his tracks. Artemis wasn't alone. He listened carefully and picked out five distinct voices.

He estimated there would be about seven to eight of them in there. Then he walked into the room and as expected, the rascals stopped talking.

They were seven in the room with standby weapons. The entire room was smoky from the cigarettes and the stench disgusted Lucian. 

“Holy shit, he actually showed up,” one of the boys exclaimed. Lucian ignored him and scanned the room for any sign of Artemis or Elle. 

“Hey! What are you doing here, man?” Another demanded, standing from his seat. He seemed like the leader.

Lucian didn't even spare him a glance and continued taking in the room. Was there some secret door where Artemis was keeping her? Or could it be that he wasn't in the building at all?

Now that would be annoying. Making him waste his time to meet a bunch of lousy brainless idiots. 

“Are you ignoring me?” The boy's tone grew angry.

Since the one he came for was no where in sight, Lucian turned to leave and this pissed the boy off further. 

He grabbed his baseball bat and charged towards Lucian angrily. He barely swung the bat when Lucian turned and simply caught it. The boy's eyes widened but before he could fully process it, Lucian pulled the bat out of his grip and smacked him across the face with it. 

“Stay out of my way,” he said coldly as the boy hit the ground with a wince. 

The other boys were shocked and angry at the scene playing out before them. They grabbed their weapons, ready to attack. 

Lucian glanced at them and cursed under his breath. He rolled up his sleeves as they charged towards him. 

It all happened in the flash. One second, they were attacking and the next, they were on the floor whimpering.

“Pests,” he muttered, kicking the bats away. “I told you to stay out of my way.” 

He glanced his watch. 

1:15pm. 

Lucian crouched over and grabbed the leader by his hair. 

“Where is she?” He asked. 

The boy's lips quivered but not a single coherent word came out. Lucian's irritation was growing with every second he wasted. 

“I won't repeat myself,” he hissed, tightening his grip on the boy's hair. 

“He… he took her…” the boy finally stuttered out despite his obvious horror. He couldn't believe that one man had taken out all eight of them without a scratch on him.

Lucian frowned. So this had been a trap. 

“Where?” He asked the boy. 

“B…Backkk…”

Lucian let go of him and walked out of the room. He went to the back of the building like the boy said and at first, he didn't see anyone, but then he heard faint sobs. 

He took a step closer and spotted the hole in the walls with Elle's head sticking out of it, her hair had fallen over, concealing her entire face. 

His blood immediately ran cold.