She ran, her bare feet kissing the land. Perhaps a little while ago she would have balked at idea of running so far and fast in a dense forest in the middle of nowhere, now she relished the prospects.
Her new feet were made to travel at speed and as light as the paws of a lioness. Breathing steady, heart strong - this girl was born to run.
And her sight, they were sharper than they had ever been, as if the world had been a blur before, as if she had been staring through dirty glasses. Her senses were sharper.
She could feel everything, the soul of the forest, her heart beating loudly in her chest, the flapping of the wings of birds.
She could hear everything.
Even her sense of smell and hearing was sharper. And it all felt so euphoric, she had never felt such a feeling before.
She also didn't know that she could feel so liberated by just running through the woods.
It was incredible. And that wasn't even the best part. There was a newfound power that seemed to be coursing through her veins. She could feel it seeping off of her in little bursts, she could barely contain it within her.
Almost as if it was going to burst right from her.
It was begging for release. How? She asked herself as she charged through the woods, she had no destination, nowhere she wanted to go.
How would I release it?
"Lacey! Lacey!"
She heard her mother's voice and stopped.
It was far, distant, about a mile or two away, but her new hearing had picked it up and she frowned distastefully
There was no way she was letting her get to her.
She turned with a frown on her face and raised her hand up, with a single clap she brought down all the trees in front of her, blocking her path and anybody else's.
She felt a short relief, she had managed to release a fraction of her power. But she was itching to release more.
She turned back, picking up her pace and failing to look back.
Yvaine was going to go crazy with anger. Lacey ran away, faster than Yvaine's legs or powers could carry her. But it was easy to see where she had gone. All around where Lacey had been there was nothing but destruction in the wake. A clear path of wreck.
It was as if Lacey had charged through the trees and brought them down with her.
The forest looked like a war ravaged camp and it was making it more difficult for Yvaine to look for her.
Perhaps she should call for help? She wandered as her mind went to Azure and she quickly decided it was a bad idea.
Azure was a vampire and also an outsider to her regardless of the fact that she was working for her.
There were a lot of things she chose not to trust the vampire with.
But if she could even get close to Lacey, close enough to use her powers on her, maybe she would be able to salvage what was left of the forest and Lacey.
Her keen ears alerted her before anything else did.
She turned sharply, cautiously looking around the woods.
Something fast and wicked was charging towards her. And dangerous too.
In a second she had already turned as it reached her, with her hand out and slamming right into the chest of Aidas Vladimir.
Aidas groaned as he tried to push her away. Surviving the impact of the blow itself was almost impossible. And the impact had cracked his rib cage badly.
Blood was already soaking his plain white shirt but Yvaine pushed harder, she wasn't even breaking a sweat. She was no ordinary creature and no ordinary queen. And strength was one of the greatest powers she had been blessed with.
Aidas groaned.
"Let go of me!!!"
He growled. His eyes a brilliant angry red and his fangs in display.
Oh he was mad. Yvaine thought with intrigue as she studied his features.
"What are you doing here vampire? You lost your way?"
"I'm just looking for Lacey."
He groaned as he pushed hard against her hand. His efforts were futile, the lady, as small as she was possessed remarkable strength.
"Lacey? Now why would you be looking for her?"
"Because she needs me. I'm the only one that can help her with whatever it is she's going though right now."
Yvaine's strength faltered a bit and Aidas took it as his opportunity to throw her off himself.
She landed on her feet, quickly recovered from the shock and ran towards him but he was way faster than her and he dodged her quickly.
"Look! I don't have time for all this. I just want to find her."
Yvaine paused, there was uncertainty in her eyes, she recognised Aidas Vladimir, she had seen him a few times, but she doubted he had seen her, or even knew who she was.
She didn't go out on business with humans and other Supernaturals alike without a glamour. A lot of Faes did. It protected their true identity and certainly added more to their of mystery.
"And why do you think she'll listen to you?"
Aidas shrugged he didn't know either he could just give a guess about it.
"Because she knows me. She'll need a familiar voice. Now, where the hell is she?"
Yvaine was silent for a while before pointing to her right, where the trees, and everything else seemed to have fallen on top of each other. The trees, as large as they were were uprooted from the ground and fell on each other, creating a sort of blockage on the path.
Aidas jaw dropped.
"She did that?"
Yvaine nodded proudly. She was glad that she had not underestimated Lacey's powers, although a few moments made her doubt her strength.
"Yes. And the worst thing is I don't think she's aware that she's destroying the entire forest."
Yvaine shook her head.
Her Settling and the power that came with it would only last a few more minutes if she kept on expending her powers the way she was.
Yvaine didn't want to show that she was too worried about it, oh but she was.
She needed Lacey's powers and she needed it as fast as she could.
A lot of people didn't know what the Blood Queen's real power was. They always assumed it was her super strength or her manipulation of darkness and shadows or her knowledge of spells.
Well, they were wrong. Her powers were what made her father name her Blood Queen herself.
It was said that she had sucked out her biological mother's powers from within, even as just as a baby.
The mantle of leadership was rarely passed down through the female. At least not after the Mad Queen. After the death of the Mad Fae Queen, men had decided that men were much better suited as kings, but all that had changed when her father saw her potential.
She knew she could steal other Fae's powers for her own, but she didn't know she could also do the same for a Fae going through the Settling.
Something she had tried with Lila, and gone too far with.
She had stolen more than she was supposed to. And though it still haunted her, she would do better with Lacey's.
"This will take a while to get around to, especially since I don't know how far the damage is."
Aidas said as he studied the direction Lacey went.
It certainly seemed like that trees had been felled in that specific way so that nobody would follow her
But what was she running from. Or who?
He thought as he turned to Yvaine and frowned.
He was healing from her blow, but slower than he normally healed.
"Call her. She'll respond to you."
Yvaine said out of the blues and Aidas raised his eyebrows
"Excuse me?"
"She's Fae now. She can hear you miles away, even much more better if you two have a connection."
"Do it. Quick before she hurts herself."
Aidas looked at the woman wearily.
Yes, from her looks he could tell she was Lacey's mother. She only looked like the slightly older version of Lacey who looked like she was nearing her early forties.
But there was not much he could do.
He had drove to Northwood in record breaking speed and had been running around the area full speed for over ten minutes, apparently he had underestimated how big the forest was and he was lucky to have run into Lacey's mother.
"Lacey?"
Aidas said slowly looking all around him.
"Lacey, if you can hear me, follow the sound of my voice."
"It's me Aidas."
The voice was crystal clear in her ears.
Soothing. It reminded her of someone familiar.
Lacey stopped. Adrenaline still bursting out of her body in little bursts of what appeared to be wind.
Aidas?
She asked herself as she finally turned.
There was so much damage. So much damage.
She raised up her trembling hands to her face with a gasp.
Did she really do this?
She asked herself as she looked around her.
All around her, there were cracks coming out of her footsteps as if each step she had taken had rocked the ground, the trees had been completely uprooted and fallen in over themselves.
"Lacey... Come to me. Where are you?"
The voice said again.
At that very moment she was more than convinced that it was Aidas.
She just had to get to him.
She thought as she stretched her hands forward.
She didn't need to do much, what her mind wanted, it acted it out like reflex. As if there was a sixth sense in her brain where it gave instructions to her magic.
The huge trees and trunks in her way were clearing a path.
And they were clearing fast.
Lacey charged through the forest again.
She had to see him.
She wanted to see him.
Yvaine smiled as her ears picked up movement in the forest. Movement towards their direction. She hid a smirk from the watchful eyes of Aidas Vladimir and readied herself.
She will have Lacey's power and even the Vampire wouldn't be able to stop her.