The room was considerably darker since Lacey had fallen asleep, an oddity given how bright the moon illuminated the outdoors. When her eyes caught movement across the window pane, a bony hand dragged across the glass, she resentfully stood to look.
Despite her usual chills, her skin didn’t mind the cool air, and so she made her way to the window without a second thought. And as she looked, a dark figure just barely dodged around the corner; louder than they should be, footsteps creaked from the porch.
Fear crept in slowly as she watched the dark figure, almost tempted to go back to bed and hide under the covers.
Time cut from one window to the next: from turning away from the bedroom, she seemed instantly at the front of a house. Which was even more confusing since she lived in an apartment complex.
She looked around and her eyes caught the address on a mail box, Barden street.
Across the road, someone watched her from under an aging tree; though the moon lit the billowing of a cloak, once they stepped into the light, the figure disappeared.
What am I doing outside? She muttered to herself as she covered wrapped her arms around herself, barefoot and scared.
She didn't recognise her surroundings, she didn't know where she was.
Soon there seemed to be a sharp drop in temperature and she noticed the waxing moon did little to illuminate the street. She was squinting long and hard to see.
"This isn’t real," she said, half to herself; her head shaking, her eyes continued looking for any signs that this was just some sort of elaborate prank; there were none.
"Whoever you are," Lacey said louder, voice wavering, “you’re not real."
"Aidas! If this is you..."
She murmured underneath her breath.
"You're not real!"
She almost screamed as she wearily watched her surroundings.
Without hesitation, a cloaked figure appeared from the aging tree. She couldn't make out any of the feature on the face, except the blood red cloak which seemed to cover all but the bony hands of whoever was lunging towards her.
"You're not real. You're not real!"
She tried to convince herself as the creature drew closer and closer until it grabbed her arms and showed her it's face.
Lacey screamed.
Hunt jolted from bed awoken by Lacey's bloodcurdling scream. He pulled her close to him and tried to shake her in an attempt to wake her.
She looked paralysed with shock and she wouldn't stop screaming.
"Candy! Candy! Candy! Are you okay!"
He barked as she tried to wake her and after a few seconds her eyes split open.
Her eyes were a bright gold for a second before changing back to their normal hazel colour.
Hunt was shocked.
"What happened!"
Lacey croaked as she breathed heavily. She looked around her wearily, pinching her face to be sure she was awake.
Hunt looked around, he was just as confused as she was. Her screaming had woke him up.
"I'm guessing you had a nightmare. What happened?"
He asked as he helped her sit up and Candy looked around wearily. Her nightdress was soaked with sweat and her dark brown hair was matted to her head. She looked around and found Hunt staring at her intently, patiently waiting for answers.
"I don't know..."
She whispered as she crawled into the warmth of his hands. She couldn't even understand her nightmare.
One minute she was sleeping, the next she was awake and chasing away the hand that was on her window pane and before she knew it she was on a street she knew nothing about being pursued by a cloaked figure.
"You're okay now. I'll keep you safe."
Hunt gently whispered as he stroked her hair.
She doubted his statement. There were things out there, people out there who weren't human and for some reason she couldn't get the thought of them out of her mind.
And what was with her bizarre nightmare? She asked herself as she tried to decipher it.
The street and house she had been in was largely unfamiliar. The creature looked nothing like Azure who had attacked her a few days ago.
She tried to think really hard on what she saw when she looked at the cloaked figure's face. But she couldn't remember anything.
Nothing except for the fear she had felt.
"Is there anything you need to tell me Candy?"
Hunt asked with a raised eyebrow after a while and Lacey looked away. she wanted to ignore his questions.
"Nothing at all. What makes you think that way?"
She asked as she pulled away from him, already missing the warmth of his body.
Aron City was the home of the most unpredictable weather and the nights were always cold regardless of the seasons.
"I don't know. You always seem to have something on your mind."
"I'm fine Hunt. Really, I am."
She tried to convince him and Hunt raised his eyebrow. He was sceptical.
"Will you at least tell me what the nightmare was about?"
"Can it wait? I just want to go back to bed."
She pleaded and Hunt caved in to her demands.
"Okay. We'll go back to bed. Tomorrow morning we'll discuss this."
Lacey nodded knowing fully well that she would still find a way to get out of the conversation.
Hunt watched as Lacey went back to sleep. There was definitely a lot of things she was hiding from him.
Hunt had stayed the night after the unexpected rain. She didn't seem to mind his company either so after they both spent an awful amount of time in front of the television before they retired for bed together.
Everything had been fine, she had cuddled up to him and he was fast asleep, until she screamed.
And that wasn't even what puzzled him the more.
What had confused him was the way her eye colour had changed when she opened her eyes. In a flash it had switched back to her normal eye colour, making him doubt what he had seen. But Hunt was a Lycan, he had seen enough of the supernatural to dismiss something like that as a mere trick of the light.
Eye colour changes wasn't something abnormal among supernaturals. Werewolves and Lycans changed eye colours when they made the shift. A few other shape shifters did too.
Most vampires' eye colours changed based on their mood.
But he knew Candy wasn't a vampire, nor was she a shape shifter.
He would have smelled it on her if she was.
There was so many things about her that he wanted to learn.
He had to learn.
Candy Holmes was no ordinary girl.
"So, will you like to come in or stay in the car?"
Hunt asked Lacey as he pulled up in front of his manor. Lacey raised her eyebrow.
"No thanks. Not after that first reaction your father gave me. I'm fine here."
She said and Hunt chuckled.
"My father isn't home. Don't worry about him. Just come inside."
"You sure?"
She asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice and Hunt nodded.
"I'm very sure. Besides I need to pick up some office files in my study. Maybe you can help me with that."
"That, I can do."
Together they both got out of the car and walked towards Hunt Adler's house.
Lacey had woken up early enough to distract Hunt with breakfast and avoid all his questions about her nightmares. She managed to give him vague answers.
Hunt wanted them to go on a mini trip to get her mind off things and after a lot of persuasions, she finally agreed.
She had packed a small bag after they had breakfast and he was going over to his house to pack one too.
She wasn't sure how long they would be gone, but she didn't mind a little escape for the time being.
Anything to get her mind off Aidas and what he told her.
Thirty minutes later, they were both on the porch walking out of the manor when a car pulled up in front of them.
Hunt narrowed his eyes as he spotted Mrs Hampshire coming out of the car.
"Who's that?"
Lacey asked as she watched the woman who was gawking at her strangely. Lacey had a feeling the woman knew her from somewhere.
"Will you do me a favour and wait in the car? Please Candy!"
Hunt pleased with her and Lacey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.
"Is everything okay?"
She asked nervously and he nodded.
"Yes, it is. I'll tell you all about it in the car. Just go in right now."
He said as he tossed her the keys and Lacey followed his instructions.
Luckily, Mrs Hampshire was too dumbstruck to even chase after Candy. He was at least grateful for that as he approached her.
"When your father told me about her I didn't believe him."
She whispered as Hunt finally stood in front of her.
"She's not your daughter Cassandra."
Hunt warned and the woman blinked back tears as she pulled her grey coat closer to herself.
There was a bit of chill in the air in the morning despite the fact that it was summer.
"I know..."
She replied swallowing hard as she watched Lacey walk into the car. The car windows were tinted. So once Lacey was in the car, she couldn't see her anymore. But for some reason her eyes were still focused on the car.
"Why are you here? My father... He's not home."
She nodded.
"I know. I was hoping I'd meet you here after he told me about her. I wanted to ask you if I could see her. I've been to the company..."
"Oh Cassandra. You can't see her. She doesn't know anything about all this."
Hunt groaned but Cassandra Hampshire looked desperate. Extremely desperate.
"Oh please Hunt. I need to talk to her. Perhaps if I do, we might able to understand everything. She needs to know."
"Know? Know about what?"
"There are a lot of things you don't know about Lila. A lot of reasons about why she left..."
"What are you talking about?"
Hunt asked in utter confusion.
Cassandra looked at Hunt's car again, burning with desperation and racking with need.
"I need to see her. She needs to know the truth."
"The truth about what?"
Hunt pestered.
"About Lila and her mother. Haven't you ever wondered why they looked so much alike?"
Cassandra snapped and Hunt took a step back.
Of course he had always wondered about it. But the Hampshires happened to be a very reputable family. And they were trusty werewolves. Their only child was Lila. Everyone knew that. Everyone could tell.
Lila was a werewolf. Candy was not. It was almost impossible that they were related even if they looked alike.
"What about Lila and Candy?"
He asked as calmly as he could, staring into the Cassandra's eyes with a steely determination.
Cassandra Hampshire sighed, eyes still focused on the car where Lacey was waiting patiently.
"They're sisters."