Vampire Of The New World

Upon hearing what had happened, Lisa immediately rushed to her aunt and uncle at the front table. The other guests still seemed unaware of what was happening, distracted by the music and good food. Lisa's aunt was crying and had her face covered with her fan. The mayor held her and was trying to calm her down when Lisa approached them.

Lisa held on to her aunt's hand and tapped it. Her aunt realizing that it was Lisa, hugged her tightly.

"I heard about what happened, Aunt Suzie," Lisa pressed her aunt's hand.

"It's Celie," was all that her aunt was able to say. Lisa took her aunt's fan and wiped her face gently. She then took a glass of water and her aunt sip it.

"Your aunt has been suffering from her anxiety ever since Celie got almost killed a few months ago during a tree planting activity." Mayor Fred explained. "Her doctor has prescribed some medications. As you know, she's hypertensive as well."

The mayor asked Lisa to hand him her aunt's bag and he looked for a small bottle of tablets. Lisa then helped her aunt take the tablet and had her drink some water.

"Do you think we should have her lie down?" asked Lisa, a look of concern on her face.

"I have already asked the driver to fetch the car. We'll just get her back to the house so that she can rest," replied the mayor.

Nestie was standing nearby and heard Lisa's conversation with her uncle. In a moment, the de Lunas' driver arrived and helped the mayor's wife get on her feet and they walked towards the hotel entrance. Lisa and Nestie came in the heels of the mayor who followed his wife to the car.

The guests saw the mayor's wife being assisted towards the exit and started whispering among themselves. Some were surprised and was wondering what happened while others just looked on.

Brent and Steve, on the other hand, decided to go outside to find out more about what happened to Celie, if possible from Renan himself. The two men said goodbye to Lisa and Nestie, but not after exchanging contact details and promising to communicate the following day when they had learned more about what happened.

Lucas was standing by his brother who was still seated on the grass under a large tree near the center of the hotel's lawn. Renan was rocking back-and-forth with his palms on each side of his head. Lucas was talking to a hotel staff who hurriedly ran to the grand ballroom.

Brent and Steve arrived and approached Lucas.

"Hi, we're friends of Celeste," said Brent.

"I'm sorry about what happened when this should be a happy night for both of them," said Steve.

"I know who you are," Lucas replied looking at the two newcomers.

Steve and Brent looked at each other, not knowing how Lucas got to know them.

"From the guest list," added Lucas, answering the unspoken question. "You're the epidemiologist, Dr. Pedro Esteban." Lucas nodded at Steve. Then, turning to Brent, "and you're the journalist, Arnulfo Bernardo."

Both Steve and Brent appeared to grimace at the sound of their full names. Then, Steve held out his hand and said, "Call me Steve."

In turn, Brent shook Lucas' hand and said, "Brent."

Lucas smiled weakly and said, "I'm Lucas. Brother of the groom-to-be. That is, if he gets himself together before the wedding."

"We'd like to help, if we can," offered Steve. "We are also worried about Celie and hoping that perhaps Renan can tell us what happened."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to get anything from Renan at his current state," said Lucas. "However, it would be very helpful if you help me bring Renan to the car as quickly as possible before anyone else sees him."

"Let's get him to his feet," said Brent who took Renan's left arm.

Steve followed Brent's cue and took Renan's right arm. They then lifted Renan off the ground and had him standing between them. Then, they walked across the grass lawn towards the hotel's driveway. Steve looked to his right and saw the faces of some of the guests pressed to the glass windows of the ballroom.

"Looks like the other guests already got wind of what's happening," said Steve and he walked on with his eyes looking straight ahead. "Aren't you going to report on this, Brent?"

Lucas appeared tense as he walked just a few steps ahead of Brent and Steve.

"Not my type of news," said Brent. "Although I can imagine Katy, our gossip writer would be dying to get the inside scoop."

"And would you tell her?" asked Steve.

"Of course not," replied Brent. "She should get the information herself once in a while."

Lucas' shoulders seemed to relax and his gait lighter. He turned to Brent and Steve. "The car's just waiting at the driveway. Let's try to get there as quickly as possible."

Steve and Brent quickened their steps and followed Lucas. They could hear Renan still mumbling some words, but could not recognize what he was saying. Brent was glad that Renan was not putting up a fight, but thought that he could subdue him if needed. Steve wondered what led to Renan's behavior and was already counting a number of possible causes.

They were almost halfway through the gardens when two men in uniform appeared and took Renan's arms.

"You can turn over my brother to them," said Lucas to Brent and Steve. "These are my staff. They'll bring Renan to the car."

The two uniformed men then took Renan and walked him towards the driveway. When they were out of earshot, Lucas turned to Brent and Steve and said. "I would appreciate it if you could join me for at least a few hours tonight at my office. I just need to talk to you both."

"Yes. Perhaps you could tell us what happened. Where's Celie?" asked Brent.

"If you're going to ask us about your brother, I'm afraid we didn't know him at all before tonight," said Steve.

"Yes. I know we are strangers to you before tonight," said Lucas. "But, you know Celeste. And I hope that you can shed some light on some of my questions."

"Well, we thought we knew Celie," said Steve.

"It turns out that there are a lot of things about her that we don't know," added Brent.

"It was like she's a different person."

"Why she would run away from her own birthday party and leave her fiancé is very much unlike the Celie I know."

"Precisely," said Lucas. "Celie did not seem to be herself and she's not one to leave any party earlier than 1 AM. And definitely not a party that celebrates her."

"What do you mean?" asked Steve.

"What I mean, my dear doctor, is that Celie may have been kidnapped."