"And you know this how?"
Aidas asked with a frown on his face and Azure struggled to get up.
"How else? I worked for Yvaine. I know everything there is to know about the Fae Queen."
"And her sister Ianthe."
She added with a small sigh to her voice.
"Her sister?"
Aidas asked in surprise and Hunt nodded.
"If you don't know... Ianthe is the one killing people all over the city. She summoned the demons."
"Of course, you'd have known this if you even decided to grace us with your presence at the last council meeting."
Aidas waved Hunt's statement off. He had been busy.
"I was busy."
Aidas said with a deep frown on his face. Imelda wanted to brief him about it earlier on but he was busy and he had asked her to do it another time.
He should have listened to her.
"So you're sure Lacey is with her mother right now?"
Azure nodded.
"I'm positive. I saw them leave together. If I have any idea has to where they're going I'd say they want to confront Ianthe. And trust me, that's a terrible idea."
Hunt sighed.
"Why didn't she tell me..."
He muttered under his breath. He thought he and Candy were past all that. He had thought that they were going to be able to talk to each other about anything that they needed to talk about.
Aidas looked at Hunt and it looked like the two of them were thinking the same thing.
"And do you know where they are?"
Aidas asked lowly and Azure's eyes darted around quickly.
"I'm not sure... They could be anywhere..."
"You're going to have to give us something more specific."
Hunt answered as he cracked his knuckles and moved closer to her. Azure was frightened. He could small the fear coming off her.
Good.
She should be afraid. Very afraid.
"But but! There's a place. Yvaine stays there. She's always there anytime she has business in the human world. I've only been there once and she swears that if I say anything about it she'll kill me."
"Well.... I'm going to kill you if you don't talk. So you better choose how you want to die."
"I'll make it quick."
Aidas added with a smile on his face.
Azure turned white.
"You don't understand! If I divulge the information, I'm going to die..."
"She... She cast a spell..."
"She did something to me!"
"I still don't understand how that's my personal problem. Will you do the talking or you want me to help you with it?"
Hunt asked as he crouched to her level, his sharp claws were out and his hand was on her neck.
"I can't... I can't..."
She choked and Aidas and Hunt looked at each other. They were going to have to try another way. Because she was too scared to talk and they couldn't kill her without knowing exactly where Lacey was.
Aidas sighed.
He was going to have to use other means.
As a vampire, he had the normal skill set every vampire had.
Heightened senses, super speed, strength, eyes changing due to emotions, normal irritation with the sun and all.
But very few vampires were blessed with other skill sets. And Aidas found his only a few years ago, when his brother Lucien had died. The grief had sent him into a downward spiral and his powers had awakened then.
The first was his uncanny ability to know when someone was lying. If he listened well enough and watched expressions closely with precision, he could see when their expressions changed or when their hearts beat faster. He knew when they lied. He didn't use it as often as he should have though. Because Aidas rarely cared when people lied to him and he was fearful enough for people not to lie to him.
The second was one known to very few people. In fact, only Imelda and a couple of his close vampire friends knew about it.
His ability to see other people's memories.
He hated it though. The feeling of getting sucked into another's mind. Seeing their memories, their pain, it was potentially damaging, to the person especially.
That kind of intrusion wasn't easy to walk away from. The mind could be left in ruins, shambles even.
"Move aside."
Aidas said and Hunt released his hold on her neck and moved aside.
Azure's eyes widened with fear as the realisation of what Aidas was going to do to her dawned her.
She knew it very well. She was one of the very few people that had heard about it.
It was called the death grip, at least that was the nickname that was given to it. She had never in her centuries of living thought that Aidas would use it on her.
Aidas himself didn't like using it very much.
It looked like that was going to change, he was desperate enough.
"Aidas! Aidas! Please!"
She begged but there was nothing she could do.
His hand gripped the back of her head with a force that felt like she had been slammed into a wall.
Hunt staggered back, watching Aidas's eyes glaze and turn into a depthless black.
Azure was frozen on the spot. Her unblinking, unmoving, showing only the whites.
The two of them looked connected, they seemed to be stuck in time.
And as he watched them he shifted uncomfortably wondering how long it'll be over.
And when Aidas had learnt the new trick.
Azure's mind was like a maze. There were so many things, so many thoughts and memories that shocked him but he kept them moving. Because he had just one thing that he wanted to do.
As he looked through her memories, he found conversations with Yvaine, how they met, why they met and exactly how much Azure hated Lacey.
Enough to want her destroyed obviously.
He thought as he squeezed his face in disgust.
He was disappointed in her and the things she had done.
Suddenly he had a glimpse of another memory, one of a large mansion that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
He squinted as he tried to learn more.
It looked like the outskirts of town, the middle of nowhere.
But he could get there.
That was enough.
He thought as he withdrew his hand from her head and got sucked back into reality.
He gasped like someone thirsty for water while Azure dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
There was blood coming from her nose and Hunt took a few steps to examine her, she looked lifeless.
It didn't look like she was breathing.
"Did you kill her?"
He asked Aidas and Aidas shook his head.
"No. Wish I did but no."
"Whatever spell Yvaine has on her is very strong."
"She's dead because she told us where she is?"
Hunt asked with shock written all over his face.
Aidas shrugged as he started walking away. He needed to clear his head. The things he had seen in Azure's mind.
Little wonder he hated going into people's minds.
"I don't know. I can't tell if it was me or whatever Yvaine did."
"But. If we're going to get Lacey we need to work together."
"I have a vague idea of where they are but from there you're going to have to track her by scent."
Hunt nodded.
"I'll go get her clothes. Do you think she's in danger?"
He asked and Aidas shrugged.
"I hope not. The faster we get there the sooner we know."
He replied.
They took one last look at Azure's lifeless body and walked away.
Another body.
Suna found another body. This time it was the body of a council member.
Lewitt Holmes. That was his name.
What was strange about the case was the fact that all if not most of the council members were under serious protection. Meaning ordinarily something like that should have never happened.
Nobody should have died.
She and her team were waiting for forensics to examine the crime scene, because the whole scene was too bloody and they didn't want to contaminate anything.
The body as far as she could see was left in ribbons.
It sent shivers down her spine and just thinking about it made her weak.
Whatever demon was terrorising them was Aron City was no small demon.
"Anything?"
She asked as Crispin walked towards her.
She had called him immediately after she got the news. They had both rushed down to the scene.
"Yes. The blood's still warm."
He said as he looked around and Suna resisted the urge to gag.
The murder was recent then.
"I don't understand why him! I mean all council members were given adequate protection. I made sure of that."
Crispin shrugged.
"Well, maybe he decided not to be protected? Ever think about it like that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just saying... He may have sought her out."
Suna narrowed her eyes.
It could have been true.
But what would a council member want with Ianthe.
Except they wanted to exchange information.
Or the council member has been working for her before.
"Suna! Suna!"
One of her men called desperately for her from across the room and she ran towards him.
"What's up? What happened?"
"You wouldn't believe what we found..."
He said panting.
"What? What did you find?"
"Apparently, there's a secret camera around here. All the apartment lodges have them. And many choose to remove them or have them disconnected when they move in."
"But Lewitt chose to keep his."
Suna's eyes widened.
This was a lead.
An actual lead!
A big lead.
"Can we get access to it?"
She asked urgently and he nodded.
"Will take a bit of paperwork but I'm sure we can."
"Great! Let's go!"