There was stillness on both sides, it was as if time had stopped monetarily while Aidas and Hunt both engaged in some kind of epic stare down.
If hatred was visible the air would have been scarlet. The tension in the air was thick and everyone could feel it. Then suddenly movement, so much force in every blow. Hunt rained blows on Aidas as if he meant to smash him into the very earth and Aidas did just the same. Each didn't just want the other dead, they wanted each other smashed, obliterated, nothing left to bury.
"Stop! For fuck's sake stop!"
Imelda screamed as she got in the way of the both of them. Aidas's men were dutifully standing aside, to avoid more bloodshed. They had no business in their fight.
One of them clung to his bleeding throat while the other was examining his head injury while shrugging off broken glass from his body.
Aidas slowly unclenched his fist, his eyes red and alert, Hunt slowly did the same, but the two of them were weary of each other. The both of them staring at every movement in the room like hawks, waiting for the right time to strike.
"What the hell are you doing here Vladimir. Where's Candy?"
"There's a lot you don't understand..."
Adidas murmured.
"I don't care! What did you do to her?!"
"I swear! If you harm one hair on her body..."
"Oh shut the fuck up! We both want the same damn thing!!"
Aidas bellowed and Hunt was taken aback.
"I don't understand. What the hell are you doing here?"
"We don't have that much time for questions Hunt. We have to find Lacey quickly."
Hunt furrowed his eyebrows.
"Lacey? Who is that?"
"Who do you think?"
Aidas retorted as he raised his eyebrows.
"I don't understand what's going on here! Where's Candy? Where did she go? And what the hell are you doing here Vladimir."
Aidas shrugged.
"Well... It's a long story. I wouldn't want to bore you with the details but Lacey, who you think is Candy used to work for me."
"Work for you?"
"In what way?"
Hunt scoffed in disbelief and Aidas shrugged as he looked around the room.
"Hard to believe? Yea. It is. I don't have time for idle chit chat. Do you have any idea who took her?"
"Took her? You think she was kidnapped?"
"Yes. We do. And we also think she's going though the Settling."
Imelda answered as she went through Lacey's bedside drawer. There must be something at least, a clue that could help them find her.
"The Settling?! You mean that Fae thing when they get their power and all."
"Yes. Exactly."
"Wait a minute. I still don't understand why anyone would want to kidnap Candy."
He directed the question to Imelda, the only one who he deemed logical enough to give him a sensible reply. He couldn't even bare to look at Hunt Adler's face without wanting to throw him another punch. That was how much he disliked him.
And the fact that Aidas seemed to know who Candy was, was even much more baffling.
But it also kind of made sense. The time he had awoken and sniffed out a vampire at the balcony. It was Aidas.
He just didn't know what sort of relationship they seemed to have together. Or the kind of work she had done with him.
"Look... I know there's a lot or bad blood between you two..."
Imelda started and Aidas scoffed.
"Bad Blood?"
"If you both want her back you're going to have to work together. Together both of you can find her much faster."
"Since Lacey is innocent, I'm assuming this must be one of the many enemies you both have or it might be related to the murders around the city."
Hunt shook his head.
"If it was related to the murders around the city she would have died already."
He said slowly with morbid fear as Aidas paced around the room.
Imelda nodded.
"Okay, then it all comes down to both of you. I am sure one of you must have pissed someone off. "
"You mean him? I mean he's the infamous King of the Night Court, I'm sure he's gathering enemies by the minute."
"I don't have any enemies that strong enough to cross me. And so far I've been able to protect her."
Hunt scoffed.
"Well...Look where we are now!"
Aidas narrowed his eyes at Hunt.
"Yea, like you were able to protect Lila?"
Hunt raised his fist but Imelda quickly quelled his anger.
"Both of you! Stop it! We're losing time."
She pointed outside.
"It's almost daybreak. We need to at least do something!"
The two men sighed as they looked around the room, each one more worried than the other.
"Why don't we find a way to track her."
Aidas answered and Hunt raised his eyebrows.
Aidas picked up a pillow from the bed.
"Wolf boy here should be able to do the job "
He said as he threw the pillow to him and Hunt narrowed his eyes at him but caught the pillow all the same.
"If it's been a while, I won't be able to properly track her scent.".
He said as he put the pillow to his nose. There was the familiar lavender smell of Candy's hair and her body that seemed to vaguely remind him of vanilla. He closed his eyes savouring her scent for a few seconds. He was so scared and worried for her, he was really hoping she was okay wherever she was.
"I can't get anything with the wind. like I said, it must have been a while. A location spell should do the trick."
"We'll need personal body items."
Imelda offered as she walked towards Lacey's vanity mirror and brought out a hairbrush.
"This would do."
Aidas murmured and Imelda nodded too.
"I'll find the witch."
He offered and Imelda nodded while Hunt brought out his phone. He had to alert his brother.
"Find one fast."
"We don't have much time."
Lacey woke up shocked to see that she was fine.
But this time, she was in another room. Not the one she was in before.
The room was light and airy. It looked like a teenage girl's room. The colours were soft and most of the things in it were pink.
The bed was larger than the one she was in before. It was a pretty pink four poster bed. Not her taste but definitely an upgrade from the last one.
She looked around her surroundings again, the windows were closed, but with the lights flickering in from outside she could tell that it was already morning.
Her headache and body pains, they seemed to have magically disappeared. How many hours did I sleep?
She asked herself as she swung her feet off the bed and walked around the room. Bigger and better than her from her other room, she didn't like it at all. Especially when it seemed like it was owned by someone.
While taking it all in, she remembered that her mother had been the one who kidnapped her, with the help of Azure.
She grew even more angrier as she remembered what happened.
If her mother was looking for a certain mother daughter relationship with her, it wasn't going to happen.
During that same moment, her mother walked in, this time, without the cloak or the meddlesome Azure next to her side.
"Oh! You're awake. Good."
She said as she smoothened out the front of a plain dark green gown with a statement necklace. She looked like she was about to head out.
"Why am I here?"
She asked again and her mother rolled her eyes.
"Oh! You're no fun. Are you still on that silly question?"
"You kidnapped me! I just want to go home."
Lacey pleaded and her mother raised her eyebrows.
"Home to where? Your father who's still living with your aunt? Or is it that expensive apartment Aidas Vladimir gave you and you choose to spend several nights there with Hunt Adler?"
How did she know all these things?
Lacey asked herself as she frowned.
"I don't care what it is. Will you please let me go? What is it that you want?"
Her mother leaned in with a small smirk on her thin face.
"Aren't you even the least bit curious? About me?"
"You left years ago. Trust me, I don't give two flying fucks about it. Now why they hell am I?"
"Ouch."
Her mother cocked her head slightly, staring at her daughter with a bit of longing. She wish she knew her, she truly seemed like an interesting character.
"I'll only tell you if you behave. That's no way to talk to me."
She murmured and Lacey rolled her eyes.
"And how should I talk to the woman who abandoned me when I was little? And did the same to my sister Lila."
Her mother seemed to flinch when she mentioned Lila and Lacey raised her eyebrows.
Perhaps it was a sensitive topic for her, but Lacey wouldn't hesitate to bring it up just to rile up some real feelings in the woman whom she called mother.
"You remember her don't you?"
"Did you kill her?"
"Ugh! Don't be ridiculous my dear."
Her voice faltered as she walked towards the window side, turning away from Lacey.
"You know what I heard?"
"I heard she went looking for you. That was when she disappeared. They found her body a few days later..."
"I didn't kill Lila."
"But you know who did! And you're probably covering up for them."
"Tell me, will the same happen to me too? Will you kill any daughter you own?"
Lacey lashed out and her mother didn't reply.
Instead there was a strange stillness in the air, like someone had frozen time.
"Lacey. There are more important things for you to worry about."
"Oh yea? Like what?"
She asked.
"Like being Fae."
Fae? What did she mean? She asked herself as her mother walked closer to her.
"And this."
Her mother said as she pressed her fingertip on Lacey's forehead.
In a flash Lacey had fallen back to the bed, she passed out.
Azure walked in at that moment.
"Is she ready yet?"
She asked impatiently.
"Any moment from now. She will be."
"What do you think will happen during her time? Will it be like the other one?"
"No, it won't. As hard as it is to admit it, Lila was weak. Hopefully, Lacey would last longer than her sister."
Azure scoffed. She highly doubted it.
"She's half human. What gives you that confidence?"
"Well, for starters, unlike Lila, she wants to live."
"She's a fighter."
Her mother said proudly. Remembering Lacey's birth. It had been a truly difficult birth, one of the worst she ever had.
And her daughter survived amongst all odds.