Fifeteen minutes and forty-two seconds.

It takes but a mere fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds for everything to crumble. Sehun is the one who tells him the news first, a mess of panic and nerves. He would have dismissed it as a joke, another childish prank the newbie pulls every so often out of sheer boredom alone, but he can't. This has to be real. No Sehun he knows would ever look -- or pretend to be -- so disgruntled over a simple prank. This isn't a ploy to get him to loosen up and crack a smile -- oh, no, this is pure reality. 

"What the hell do you mean he's gone? An unconcious body doesn't just float away, Sehun. There's no way he's just gone."

"Kris, I'm telling you that he's gone. Missing. Disappeared. Abracadabra. Poof."

He has half a mind to slap Sehun for his seemingly nonchalant manner about the whole ordeal, but he doesn't out of an extremely strong will. He can't get information if the boy's conscience is smacked out of his body. 

"Look, if you don't believe me, go have a look for yourself. I'm being serious this time. Tao is missing, and no one has any idea where, who, or how!" 

Kris, surprisingly, takes his advice and tries not to visually bolt out of the commons area to his quarters. There is no way; he can't be missing. He's been careful this entire time checking his back, watching his surroundings, and keeping heavy security around the estate. He's even kept a decent eye on the new guy, Henry, that joined them a few days ago. He has a snaking suspicion that everything is as it normally should be with Tao tucked under his bed's numerous blankets attached to the multiple machines Yixing has him hooked up to. There's just no way. 

But, as he discovers soon thereafter, there is. 

After traveling the length from the common area to his far off east wing, he's welcomed will guards in full-blown panic. He really should care that his soldiers are acting like lunes over nothing, but he bypasses them. He's got to prove himself right. Tao can't be gone; that can't be true. 

But as soon as he enters his room, he realizes that none of it is the lie he so desperately wants it to be. This isn't a hoax or a prank or a joke, because Tao isn't tucked in his little cocoon on the mattress with the overly loud machine beeping rhythmicly in his ears. The french doors that lead to his balcony are strewn wide open, the dark curtains over them fluttering in the bitter winter breeze. The air grows colder and stiffer by the second, but he can't find it within himself to even care. His room is empty. He is empty. 

Kris doesn't hesitate to search again. Maybe they missed a spot. Maybe Tao woke up, got spooked, and hid. Maybe he is still in here somewhere. Kris' room is enormous; there are more than enough hidey holes only he knows about. He has to be in here somewhere, right? 

Not daring to waste another milisecond standing there, Kris makes a mad dash for his bathroom first, checking in the bath, in the towel closet, in the sink cabinets, in the seperate shower. He takes a peak under the bed, probes every nook and cranny he knows of that can successfully hide a grown man, yet he can't find him anywhere. And goodness is his smell driving him insane. Where the hell did he go? Where did the owner of that smell go? 

It hits him then, when he sees the abandoned combat boots and how disgustingly neat the covers are, that Tao is missing. He's gone, stolen right from under his nose, and it's all his fault. He was the one to leave his shadows; he was the one that caught Tao's attention. He has no one to blame but himself, yet why does he feel so angry? Perhaps it's because some fool had the nerve to touch his mate that he gets so infuriated; whatever the actual cause, he doesn't particularly care. He just knows that he's a bit past the point of disbelief. 

When the first chair flies across the room, a wave of frightened gasps sounds from the spectators watching just beyond the room's doors as they flock to see what the commotion is about. Never have they heard such sounds of destruction in the place they call their home, especially from the man they look up to. Kris seems almost like a living, breathing nightmare as he angrily shreds his curtains to scraps, skinning his sofas clean and flipping every table and chair in sight. He moves onto the glass next, the sound ear-splitting as it comes in contact with the ground. A bundle of fresh flowers falls from a crystal vase as he smashes it to the floor in pure rage. 

It all stops, though, moments later, almost as if someone has pressed the pause button on a remote as Kris simply stares at a picture frame poised to be flung to the floor in his tight fist. The picture it holds isn't in any way special, just a snapshot of a bronzed, red-headed boy they, the guards, have never seen, but it seems to ground Kris enough to put a halt to his wrath. A semblance of a smile trickles onto his lips, and a glittering speck -- a trick of the light maybe? -- flits down his cheek. 

The scene is interupted by Chanyeol bursting into the room at high speed only to be stopped by the sight before him. 

"What in the world happened in here?" he questions faintly. 

His leader looks weak, at least his expression does. He looks the most vulnerable Chanyeol thinks he's ever seen Kris in the years he's known him. The Kris he knows is strong, prideful, feared. The Kris in front of him, however, is confused.  

"Kris! Hey, get up, man," he decides to say, being slightly gentle with his words so as not to cause another fit from Kris. He'd rather like to be able to assist in the search alive.  

"He's gone, Chanyeol. They took him from me," Kris manages to whisper, nearly inaudible if it weren't for his heightened hearing. 

"I know that. There's no way I couldn't with Sehun screaming like a banshee." 

"Then why the aren't you doing something about it? Why are you here talking to me when you should be out trying to find him? You need to find him Chanyeol! He's not going to just waltz through the front door on his own!"

Kris isn't expecting to be yanked up from the rumble he created and smacked in his left cheek, but it happens anyways. He can't find it within himself to fight back, so he lets it happen; he just wants to be left alone right now. For all he cares, Chanyeol and his snappy attitude could go screw themselves. 

Another sting blooms in his cheek again, and this time, he pays attention to the other man's yells. 

"Kris, I love you and all, but can you please pull your head out of your and calm the down? No one knows where Tao went, and we won't ever figure that out if you don't snap out of your little temper tantrum. I get that he's your mate and all, but we can't have you engandering everyone else because you're upset; and we sure as hell can't begin looking for him without a leader, Kris. I know you want him back -- we're willing to help you get him back, but you need to straighten yourself out first. Wrecking the estate will get us no where. Now, are you going to help us help you, or are you going to sit here and wallow?" 

It's like something clicks in his mind, and Kris takes a look at his surroundings. What is he doing? He's just wasting precious time by sitting here and being destructive. Who ever took Tao could be doing something right now, something harmful, and here he is throwing around furniture like baseballs. He has to get Tao back again, alive (hopefully) and in one piece (hopefully). Besides, what would his people hink is they saw him like this? He's supposed to be a role model, so what would they think if he stormed down the stairs and destroyed their only home out of nothing but petty anger? 

Chanyeol takes notice of a glint in Kris' sharp, amethyst eyes that he knows all too well, and a smile spreads across his face as he claps the older firmly on the back. It's only a given that Kris is more than pissed off at not only himself but the fact that Tao's been taken, but he seems to be relatively back in his right mind and more than determined to get the task done. He can almost see the epic asskicking the E.L.P is going to get when Kris tracks them down. 

"So, leader, what's first on the agenda?" Chanyeol asks as he stares his superior in the eyes with a teasing gaze. 

Kris seems to pick up on it as he smirks, dusting his hands before making a move to the busted windows. 

"I need you to call an emergency meeting, and include those that helped us last time; we're going to need as much brains and skill as we can get. Also, calm everyone down as much as you can. Panicking vampires don't help the situation." 

"And Kyungsoo? He's been down lately, and I don't want to make him worse or lose my head trying to speak to him."

"Leave him be. I'll talk to him whenever I find the time. For now, just do what I've asked, and I'll follow in a few minutes, okay?"

"Copy. I guess I'll be seeing you in the conference room then."

With that, Chanyeol turns to leave the room, glass and other broken pieces of furniture crunching loudy beneath his shoes. Before he can completely exit though, he swivels in his spot right outside the door and looks Kris in the eye once more.

"Glad to see that fire in your eyes again. Don't let it get to you too much, Kris. We'll find him and bring him back, safe and sound." 

Kris redirects his gaze to the frosty garden once Chanyeol is completely gone from the area, gazing at the closed gate that shields it from the rest of the world. 

"I hope so, too, Yeol. I hope so, too."

Late chaper again -.- This seems to be a streak, doesn't it? I hope you enjoyed!! ^^