Luther's Return

“Helena, it is not so,” Lysander responded.

“Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, lest, to thy peril, though aby it dear,” Demetrius replied and looked to stage left, pointing his hand in the same direction. “Look where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.”

Silence greeted Demetrius’s announcement.

“Yonder is thy dear,” he repeated, a little louder this time.

Katie’s pulse kicked up, while her eyes searched the darkness to the side of the stage from where Isabelle was supposed to reappear as Hermia, Lysander’s lover. But all she saw was one of her students dressed as a fairy waiting in the wings. She exchanged a look with the girl, but only got a helpless shrug as a response.

Isabelle had missed her cue! Embarrassed for her star student, Katie cringed. Had Isabelle forgotten her lines under the stress of the performance, or had she mistimed her next appearance on stage? Had she taken a bathroom break and forgotten the time?

From the auditorium, whispers drifted to Katie. The crowd was getting restless, sensing that something wasn’t going according to plan. Her gaze shot to the first row. She didn’t have to be able to see in the dark like the vampires watching to see Samson’s eyes, because they were glowing red now, pointing at her like beacons.

What’s going on? he mouthed, his entire face a mask of concern.

Katie had no problem reading his lips. It was a skill she’d learned during her professional acting career, when assistants off camera or off stage would prompt her.

She gave a quick shake of her head at Samson, then stared back at the side of the stage from which the actors entered. Still nothing.

An uncomfortable prickling sensation traveled up her arms. Something was wrong. Isabelle was a responsible person, despite her young age. She was an adult and didn’t flake out on her commitments.

The two students playing Lysander and Demetrius stared at her for guidance.

“What now?” Lysander murmured.

Katie didn’t reply. Instead she stalked to where the fairy waited in the wings, leaving the stage. She grabbed the chubby girl by the shoulders. “Where is Isabelle?”

“I don’t know.” Cindy choked down some food, powdered sugar rimming her lips. “She was here just a few minutes ago.”

“Go, run to the bathrooms and see if she’s there, quickly!”

Cindy instantly followed the command.

From the auditorium, more voices drifted to Katie. People were talking, wondering what was the problem. Just like she was.

“Where is she, where is Isabelle?”

Katie whirled her head in the direction of the voice and saw Blake rushing toward her, entering the backstage area from the corridor.

“I don’t know. She missed her cue. She might be in the bathroom. I’ve already sent somebody there to look for her. Maybe she got nervous.”

Blake pressed his finger to the mic in his ear. “Secure the perimeter. Find Isabelle Woodford. I repeat: secure all exits. Nobody gets in or out of this place without me knowing. Got that?”

Before she could tell Blake that he was probably overreacting, heavy footsteps came through the darkness backstage.

“Isabelle?” Samson pushed past Blake, his hazel eyes pinning Katie with a look that could have outclassed the Spanish Inquisition. “Where is my daughter?”

For a moment, Katie was paralyzed. The over six foot tall vampire made an imposing figure. He was power personified. She’d always known that, though she’d also seen his kind side, had experienced it personally many years earlier. But tonight he was something else: a concerned father.

“Check the dressing rooms and the bathrooms!” Blake barked into his mic.

“I don’t know where she is; she was supposed to come back on stage,” Katie said, replying to Samson. She wrung her hands in front of her stomach, anxiety building inside her.

The sound of somebody running in sandals came closer and Katie peered past the Scanguards boss.

“She’s not in the bathroom,” Cindy called to her, an expression of regret on her face. “I can’t find her.”

Blake barked more orders into his mic, some of them so low that Katie couldn’t understand them. Past the curtain that separated the backstage area from the stage and the auditorium she heard people running around. Blake’s team was seemingly at work to search every corner of the building.

“Cindy, assemble all the other students in the men’s dressing room. Go!” Katie ordered. “And stay there until we know what’s going on.”

The girl looked frightened, but nodded and disappeared.