74. Wedding Day Madness pt. 1

[Sinclair]

"It's my maker, Sinclair. I don't know how I know, but whatever that thing is... It's my home. I come from that thing, somehow, and someway. I think- I think it's the original fae. You can't kill it, Sinclair, please!" Maeve sobbed, tears streaming endlessly down her cheeks as she watched me, holding my hand to her chest as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.

"It's your home, Maeve?" I asked her, doing everything I could to stop my emotions from showing. It hurt me more than I could ever begin to explain, to see her like this, to see her crying. But I couldn't let her know how I was feeling, as I didn't know if she was herself or if that thing was controlling her, making her say these things in an effort to save its own skin.

"It's the same reason I feel like it made me. It's like I belong to it, and the thought of you killing the thing that made me..." She struggled out, trailing off as she sniffled and tried to dry her tears, failing as she was still crying much too hard to dry her cheeks. "Take me further away. The further I get, the less I feel from him."

*'Him?'* I thought but said nothing as I took her in my arms and ran through the woods until we were a few miles away, setting her down in the clearing where I'd stopped. "Is this far enough?"

"Yes, oh my god, thank you. I felt like I couldn't breathe!" Maeve gasped, putting her hands on her knees as she bent over, taking in long and shaky breaths. "I didn't mean to go in the tunnels. I wanted to walk to clear my head because of what I did to you, and I ended up there. I don't even know where the entrance is."

"There was no entrance that I knew of previously. You dug your way into that tunnel from the surface. That's how I found you." I gasped, furrowing my brows in confusion as I watched her blue-green eyes widen in shock and horror. *'She doesn't remember digging through the ground? It was like the same thing she was doing in the tunnels. I'm sure if it weren't for her healing, her fingers would be covered in blood, and likely that amount of force would break a few fingers.'*

"No, I don't remember that. I was just walking through the woods, and then I was in the tunnels." She gasped out, then shook her head as she turned her back to me. "I don't know what that thing is, but it's powerful."

"Yes, extremely so. I mean no offense to you, but how do I know it's you and not that creature?"

"I don't know how to prove to you that it's me, but it didn't take over my mind, Sinclair, only my body."

"Clearly, it did take over your mind when you dug your way into that tunnel. That's about thirty minutes of memory that you're missing, Maeve." I said with a sigh, narrowing my eyes at her as I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting.

"I died, and that's probably why I don't remember. My memory of death doesn't return after I die for a while, but I don't know why. Those memories always take the longest to return when I come back. I was walking around, and then black nothingness, and I woke up in the tunnels. There was a wall behind me. That's why I started walking forward." Maeve gasped, shaking her head with a sigh. "I couldn't figure out why I died, but I came back, so I didn't really see any issues with it."

"You died..." I trailed off, laughing softly with a shake of my head. "Oh, it's you, alright. You died and brushed it off like it was nothing. I'm guessing the digging killed you. It wasn't very far, as there was a hatch a few feet down. But rather than opening the hatch, you clawed through it. I'm willing to bet that the blood-loss did it, as there was a lot of it. If that wasn't enough, I'm sure the thirteen-foot drop was enough to break the camels back."

"Thirteen-foot drop?" She gaped, then closed her eyes with a sigh.

"Yes. The hatch was not just above the surface. I would have found you sooner, but I was still human for a while, so I couldn't run as fast as I normally could, nor did I have my hearing, nor my sense of smell." I said as I sat down against the tree, watching her as she sat across from me, looking at the forest surrounding us.

"Sinclair, please, don't kill him. If what I was feeling was right, that thing is the very first fae. Can you imagine what we can learn from him?"

"The way you react when you're close to it is reason enough to kill it, Maeve. Why do you keep calling it he?"

"Oh, I dunno. I felt like it was a he, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. Does it matter what pronouns I use for it?" She said, throwing her hands up in a show of defeat, rolling her eyes at me.

"I believe it should matter, yes. If that thing has been trapped for centuries, don't you think the reason it's taking over you is that it's a man?"

"Oh, you're jealous of a creepy thing hidden in the walls underneath your castle, Sinclair, really?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as she watched me, her already thick accent increasing to the point where I had to pay close attention to understand what she was saying, and even then, a lot of her words eluded me. "I don't believe so, no. Don't you think that something so old might just want to be free with no alternative motives other than getting free? As a matter of fact, weren't you imprisoned? You tricked Bast into becoming your friend so she'd unwittingly release you, aye? You're telling me that you think that thing would rather take me than to be free?"

"That is not what I was saying in the slightest, but now that you've brought it up, perhaps it is you who believes that thing may wish to take you?" I challenged with a growl, watching her as she stood and began pacing.

"Why do men always turn things to sex? Maybe that thing is celibate. You don't fucking know. It could be a eunuch for all you know. Are you really going to kill something that's been trapped for centuries because you think it wants me?"

"Do you believe I won't?" I snorted as I stood and looked down at her, watching as she continued to pace without any apparent intentions of stopping anytime soon. "You'd prefer I didn't care and left things to do as they please?"

"I'm not saying all of that, Sinclair. I'm only asking you not to kill it, and you're assuming that I'm saying not to kill it because I want to have its creepy old babies or some gobshite." She spat back, letting out a long and drawn out sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking around for a long few moments before turning her attention back to me.

"If it was the first vampire, or mimic, or elemental, you'd have no issues letting it live. So why is it that you have an issue with it because it's one of me own?" She said, her accent now as thick as it was the first day I met her before she'd spent enough time in America to learn our dialect. Though I loved her accent and loved to hear it, I had to remind myself to remain sober. Otherwise, things could end badly.

"It's not because it's a fae, Maeve. It's because it was able to control you. Do you not understand how worrisome that is? None of us can use our abilities with you, but that thing can? It can control your body. Whos to say it can't control your power? Force you to kill all of us before we can get too close to it? Do not say that you couldn't, because we all know too well that you could kill every one of us if you so desired to do so." I responded coldly, making sure I didn't raise my voice, as I didn't want her to think I was upset with her.

I wasn't upset with her in the slightest, but what I'd seen her do in those tunnels, that look in her eyes... the color of her eyes when she was doing it. The amount of overwhelming power emanating off of her was choking me, trying to force me to my knees. It was as if her power its hands clasped around my throat, trying to choke the life out of me.

"I-" Maeve started to say but cut herself off, biting her lip as she looked down at the ground. She kicked at a few leaves, watching them as they wavered and fell back to the ground, taking a few long breaths to calm herself down before speaking. "You're right. I'm sorry. I know that it took control of me, but I didn't fully realize that it had taken hold of me."

"I don't want you to think that it's because of what it is or how you feel when you're around it. It's because we don't know what it wants from you and why you felt that way." I explained as I closed the distance between us, cupping her chin, pulling her to look up at me. I searched her eyes for a few moments, looking for anything that wasn't Maeve looking back up at me. "I understand your need to want to talk to it and to learn from it. Please try to understand what I am saying, Maeve. If I need to kill it, to protect you, I will do so, without hesitation."

"How I felt? I don't know how I felt. The only thing I know is it feels like it's a part of me, and not a small one. Which confuses me because fae come from Ireland, so if that really is my maker, why is he underground in America?"

"I don't know. Perhaps he is simply one of the first fae, trapped underground from others? We saw how scared the fae are of dark fae and anodyne, so perhaps he is one of the first to turn dark before they knew what it was? He could even be the first anodyne, and that is why the connection you feel is so strong?" I suggested, and as I said it, I found it clicking together in my head, making it hard not to believe that it was true. *'That makes the most sense, now that I said it. Maeve has just turned into an anodyne, and if what she said before was right, then she became a fae when she moved out of Ireland. If she's really been a fae the entire time I've known her, she would have felt that thing in the basement months ago. Yet it isn't until she turns into an anodyne that she senses him?'*

"Aye, I guess that makes sense. It didn't get like this until I turned into an anodyne, so maybe he is one of the first?" Maeve agreed after a few moments of thought, sighing as she rested her head on my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist as she hugged me. "Does this mean I can't go back?"

"I don't know. I fear you could try to get to him again, once you get within distance." I said, putting my hand on the small of her back, waiting for her to look up at me.

"I think it will be okay. I'll just have the twins put up a border in my head." She said, taking a step back to look up at me, smiling softly in encouragement as she took my hand and started to walk back towards my house.

"What do you mean? What can the twins do?" I asked, hesitating before moving forward, as I wasn't sure if it was safe for her to return home.

"Like the border I have protecting me from your power. They should be able to put one up that will block him from my head. Speaking of, we can't tell them about him. Everyone else, I mean. The twins can't read my mind unless I let them, so they won't find out either."

"We can't very well not tell them that there's an ancient being trapped in the tunnels spanning my property. If we don't tell them, and that thing is able to escape, we will be responsible for ruining their wedding for the second time." I said as I came to a stop, watching her as she sighed and pulled at my arm, trying and failing to get me to keep walking.

"Sinclair, you can marry them in thirty minutes. Once they get dressed, you can marry them. It's not like they're waiting for guests." She exclaimed with a sigh, pulling at my arm again. I walked forward this time, as standing in the woods arguing wasn't the best thing to do with our night. "It's not like I want to hide it from them forever, just for a little while. I don't know what happened at their first wedding, but I know it wasn't good. The very least we can do is keep our traps shut for a little while and tell them afterward."

I thought about this for a few minutes as we walked, weighing what she said against what I believed. It didn't take long to decide to agree, as I would not have to tell Bast that she would have to postpone her wedding once more. "Okay, we will not tell them until after they are married. But, we are going to tell them tomorrow, or rather, today."

"Aye, we'll tell them, but not yet." Maeve agreed with a nod, looking around as we walked.

"I could run us back if you wish? We are a few miles away." I offered as I pulled her into my arms, waiting for her to press her face against my throat before I ran forward, slowing down once we reached the end of my property, checking around us before setting her on the ground so she could walk on her own as I knew she'd want to.

"Good so far," Maeve said with a smile but still veered off to the right, putting as much distance between her and the tunnel as she could, making a beeline for the cabin. It wasn't until we passed the threshold that she let out a breath of relief, pulling me to sit on the couch with her.

"Don't worry. I will not allow you out of the house," I said with a chuckle, draping my arm around her shoulder, pulling her to me.

"Will you turn on the electricity so I can make a pot of coffee?" She asked, trying to conceal a yawn before saying anything more. "We both know, if I want to get out of this house bad enough, there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"It's past midnight and near one. You should get some sleep, especially if you hope to have any," I said, kissing the top of her head before she laid her head on my lap, nuzzling against me.

"I'll only go to sleep if you promise you won't go anywhere near those tunnels." She said, narrowing her eyes at me as I started to object, telling me that it was not up for discussion. "I will stay up all night if I have to." She warned softly, then smiled as I nodded my understanding.

"Very well. I swear it. I will not go anywhere near the tunnels if you get at least a few hours of rest." I said with a groan, watching her as she readjusted the way she was laying, getting comfortable to fall asleep. *'I should have known you'd demand something like that of me. I wish nothing more than to find out what is in those tunnels, perhaps just as much as you do. I must know if this man will try to steal you away from me or pose any threat towards those I cherish in this life. But, very well, I am a man of my word.'*

________

[Mercy]

"Mercy, wake up," Alaric whispered, shaking me softly, smiling when I opened my eyes to look up at him. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Corny," I groaned as I sat up, taking the cup of coffee he'd set on the bedside table next to me, sipping it as I looked around the bedroom, drinking in the house once more. *'I can't believe that Sinclair and I spent so much time together, and I never knew that he had a house. He doesn't just have a house. He has a castle with hundreds of acres of land and four other houses on the same damn property. I guess Sinclair and I weren't as close as I thought we were. Serves you right, treating him the way you did, though.'*

"Sam and Samantha are here. They stopped to get changes of clothes for everyone, first, so this day should go smoothly." Alaric said as he sat on the bed next to me, watching me curiously, then motioned to the clothes on the chair by the bedroom door. "What are you thinking about?"

"This ginormous place, the wedding, the groups of people after my head because I had the audacity to be born. You know, the regular stuff." I said with a grin, shaking my head softly. "I know we need to tell them, but it can't be today."

"Lucifer and Sam should already know. I'm willing to bet that Sinclair pieced it together as well. The only ones left to tell are your sisters." He responded, watching me as I set down my coffee to grab the change of clothes, placing them on the bed before going into the bathroom where he'd already set out the things I needed to get ready.

"Telling my sisters is going to be the worst part. I hope you're happy that your pack is saved and you're finally married to Damien, but yeah, we're being hunted. So, that's cool." I responded with a roll of my eyes before brushing my teeth, watching him in the mirror as he came to lean against the wall next to the shower, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched me.

"I know that this news is not something you wish to share, but it is for the best. Octavia will waste no time in expanding her pack even further, and Lucifer will reinstate the guards he used to have at his house. Telling them is the only way to make sure they are safe."

"You said that Damien already knows. If he knows, why wouldn't he already have the guards stationed at his house?"

"I said he should know, as the king, but that does not mean he does. As the elder, it is my duty to inform him, as it is happening in Europe. Now that Bartholomew is the elder there, I suppose it's the responsibility of both of us. Regardless, I will tell him after the wedding. I do not wish to ruin their happiness just yet."

"Babe, telling them isn't going to ruin their happiness, you realize that, right?" I asked him as I brushed out my hair, watching him through the mirror before setting my brush on the counter with a sigh, putting my arms around him, resting my head on his chest. "It will be okay. I know it will."

"How could you know such a thing, Mercy? This is a dangerous continent and one of the biggest in terms of the supernatural population. It's one of the reasons I'm glad that the recreants came here, but even they may not be enough to hold back the hoards." Alaric said with a sigh, kissing the top of my head before motioning for me to continue getting dressed. "I do not know when they are planning to marry, perhaps in the afternoon, so I wouldn't suggest wearing the dress just yet."

"I wasn't planning on it. It feels weird. I used to wear dresses and skirts all the time, but now most of the time I wear pants." I said with a giggle as I stepped into my dark blue jeans, then pulled the red tanktop over my head. "Is everyone else awake yet?"

"I do not know, as I cannot hear anything happening in the other houses. It's nearing eight am, however, and this is around the time everyone starts to awaken from their slumber." He said with a shrug, following me as I sat on the edge of the bed to put on my boots, a look of amused curiosity etched on his face as he watched me. "You have the most peculiar fashion sense."

"Says the man who never strays from his black three-piece suit. I've seen you out of a suit, like, once."

"You've got an issue with the way I dress? Ah, yes, the time you saw me in sweatpants. If I recall correctly, you told me I was never allowed to wear them again." Alaric responded with a smug grin, taking my hand as we walked out of the house and headed towards the main house, looking around Sinclair's property as we made our way forward.

"Because you're the devil in a pair of grey sweatpants, and you know it."

"I am the devil no matter what I am wearing, my dear. It is by no fault of my own that you did not come to realize this sooner."

"Yeah, fair enough." I agreed with a nod, then cocked my head to the side when I saw Maeve on the front lawn, engaged in a brutal sword fight with Sinclair and winning. "She is handing him his ass on a plater, holy fuck." I breathed as we walked closer to observe but made sure to keep a distance so as not to interrupt them. I was surprised to see that Sinclair was shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of pants, while Maeve was wearing a black pair of running pants and a black and blue sports bra, her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"He taught her very well," Alaric agreed with a nod, watching the fight with a look of respect and admiration, grinning when Maeve kicked Sinclair's legs from underneath him, causing him to falter. Though Sinclair recovered almost instantaneously, that single moment was enough opening for her to force him to the ground, pressing the sword to his throat, crouching over him.

"Before she brought out the swords, they were engaging in hand to hand combat. She is about three times more efficient in hand to hand than she is with a sword." Damien chuckled as he walked down the castle's front steps, smiling hello to me before standing next to Alaric, watching as Maeve paused to take a water break.

"Hand to hand with a recreant? I don't see that ending well." I snorted, then did a double-take when I saw the look on Damien's face, telling me that he was entirely serious. "Are you serious? Maeve can take Sinclair down in hand to hand?"

"Yes, she can. She is not a woman to be trifled with. This, I now know to be the truth. Sinclair taught her how to hold her own, even when in a fight with someone inhumanly strong, and it shows. She may not be able to throw him, but she knows how to use that strength to her own advantage."

"So, you've been watching them for a while? How long have they been at this?" Alaric asked him, looking over his shoulder as the twins came down the front steps, followed by Samantha.

"Hey, Sammy!" I gasped, pulling her into a hug. It hadn't been that long since I'd seen her, but it felt like an eternity.

"I do not know how long, but I came outside and saw them training over three hours ago. I'd like to say that it's when they started, but Maeve seems entirely content on continuing, no matter how long this goes on."

"Woah, Maeve is a really good fighter!" Ciaran gasped, his electric blue eyes going wide as he watched Sinclair and Maeve, jumping up and down with excitement when Maeve took the upper hand in their bout.

"Sinclair's getting his ass handed to him!" Azeneth giggled, then clasped her hand over her mouth, looking up at Damien with a gasp.

"It's alright, Azeneth," Damien said with a chuckle, putting an arm around her waist as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head, watching as Maeve called an end to their training, putting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

"Arsehole. You weren't supposed to be holding back." She struggled out through her gasps, narrowing her eyes at Sinclair as he handed her a towel to dry off with.

"We've been at it for nearly four hours, Maeve. I wasn't going to test your limits when you're already running on less than four hours of sleep." He responded with a shrug, then looked around the ground for something. "I had an extra shirt placed out here."

"Hmm? Aye, I used it. You'll need another." Maeve said, then waved hello to us when she noticed she'd attracted an audience.

"Breakfast is done," Bast said as she and Octavia came out onto the front steps, smiling politely to me before looking back and forth between Maeve and Sinclair. "Finally done training like you're trying to kill each other?"

"If we were training like we were trying to kill one another, one of us would be dead," Maeve said as she walked past us and into the house, cringing like something had just slapped her across the face, then pointed to the twins, motioning for them to follow her upstairs.

"What's going on?" Damien asked, watching as the three of them jogged up the stairs, then disappeared to the right.

"A power issue that she needs the twins to help her resolve. It restricted her from getting more than a few hours of sleep, and that is why we've been training the last few hours. To keep her mind off of it." Sinclair said as we walked into the kitchen where the counter was covered in different foods, pulling a plate off of the stack before putting a bit of everything on the plate, setting it at a place at the table, which I assumed was for Maeve. *'A power issue? How is no one questioning this? We know she's basically turning into a different person because of what she is, and no one is worried in the slightest? Then again, if Sinclair isn't worried about it, then no one else would be. It's his girlfriend, so we all kind of follow his lead with how we react, I guess.'*

"Mercy," Alaric called, tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention, watching me curiously as I shook my thoughts loose and looked down at the coffee I'd spilled all over the countertop.

"Oh for the love of-" I groaned as I walked around the counter to get the roll of paper towels, shaking my head as I dried off the counter before wiping it down with the sponge. "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a minute."

"Yeah, no shit," Kerr snorted as he helped Alaric and I clean off the counter, picking up the plates so Alaric could clean underneath them.

"Are you alright?" Bast asked me.

"Yeah, I'm good. I don't even know how that happened." I said with a nod as I poured myself a fresh cup of coffee, taking a bagel off of the counter, then sitting down at the table just as Maeve and the twins were returning. "All good?" I asked her as she sat down at the table, her eyes widening when she saw the mound of food on her plate.

"Huh? Oh, aye." She responded absentmindedly as she continued to look from her plate, then to Sinclair, shaking her head with a giggle. "This is more food than I eat in a week, Sinclair!"

"You need the nourishment, Maeve. It's not as if you can gain any weight from it, especially after the hours of non-stop training." Sinclair said with a nonchalant shrug, then chuckled before taking a piece of toast from her plate. Maeve narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing more before stabbing her fork into the eggs, shaking her head before she began eating.

"I was expecting her to stab something else, the way she was holding that fork," Kerr mumbled with a snort, not looking up from his food until he noticed everyone was laughing at what he'd just said. "I said that out loud?"

"You did, and while I can appreciate the humor, let's not give anyone any ideas," Sam said, adjusting his tie before readjusting the way he was sitting, casting a glance at Samantha, who was watching him with a smile.

"I have a pregnant elemental and mimic hybrid girlfriend. Are you really trying to say that you do not like the idea? Try knowing that it could happen if you pick up the wrong type of sushi at three am." Kerr responded with a groan, then grinned at Octavia after noticing that she was watching him. "I love you very much. You know that, right?" He added, chuckling when Octavia rolled her eyes at him.

"So, what's the plan for the day?" I asked Bast after a few moments of silence.

"I don't know, none of this was really planned."

"Well, after breakfast, we can get dressed, and Sinclair can marry us, right?" Damien asked Sinclair without looking up from the newspaper he was slimming through.

"Yes, whatever you'd like to do. Everyone is here, right?" Sinclair responded, then reached over and took a page out of the newspaper, narrowing his eyes as he read through the article quickly, then sighed disbelief before handing it back to Damien.

"What you guys are saying is there's no plan, and we're just going with the flow?" I responded with a grin, shaking my head before looking to my right where Alaric was reading through something on his phone, then clicked out of it to send a message.

"Pretty much, yeah. I know it's a wedding and I'm supposed to be a bridezilla, or whatever, but I really don't want that. Compared to the morning of the first wedding to now, this is the easy winner. It's laid back, and I'm relaxed, and everyone is just enjoying each other's company. The people in this room are the ones I care about most, and the fact that you're all here is all I could want." Bast responded with a grin, motioning around the table. "I'm happier than I thought I would be, and that's saying something."

"I get it. I don't think I would feel any different if it had happened to me." I said with a smile, then looked across from me where Sinclair and Maeve talked in another language. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it seemed like they were both arguing and joking.

"Perhaps in the pause between breakfast and wedding, you'd be interested in a sparring match?" Alaric asked Maeve after sending the message he'd been typing, putting his phone in the pocket on the inside of his jacket, chuckling when Maeve raised a curious eyebrow at him. "I enjoy a spar with Sinclair, and after seeing you in action, I believe you would be a good partner as well."

"I was just telling Sinclair that I know I'm not completely helpless against a recreant, but I was curious how long I could last in the ring with an enhanced vampire!" Maeve responded with a small laugh before smirking at Sinclair, who threw his hands up in a show of defeat. "I was betting that you wouldn't hold back, in the interest of training me, while Sinclair said you would."

"Holdback? On a woman who cannot die?" Alaric asked, putting his hands up like they were scales, motioning like he was weighing the options, then let out a laugh.

"That's my point! What is the point in holding back when it's not like you can kill me? Not permanently, anyway." Maeve agreed, then leaned back in her seat, pushing her plate towards Sinclair.

"You've barely eaten anything. You aren't sparring until you've eaten." Sinclair said, crossing his arms over his chest, leaning back in his seat, watching Maeve like he was daring her to argue.

"I-" Maeve started to say, then stopped herself as she watched Sinclair for a few moments, then seemed to think better of it and shook her head before pulling her plate back in front of her.

*'Yeah, I know that look all too well.'* I thought as Alaric looked at me, then down at my plate, before looking back at me with a glare. *'Speaking of, the look.'* I added as I started eating, not wanting to say anything that he'd punish me for later.

After we'd finished breakfast, Ciaran, Azeneth, and I worked on clearing the table and washing the dishes while the rest of the group went out into the yard where Bast had picked her favorite place on the ground. Once we'd finished, we went outside to join everyone else, trying to see if our assistance was needed, but by the time we'd finished, they'd almost completely finished.

I had to admit. I loved Bast's spot of choice. When I first got here, the property was terrifying and dark, but during the day, there was a gorgeous clearing along the side of the property, just before the treeline. The ground was littered in flower petals from the garden not far away, the sun shining brightly through the trees, casting a hauntingly beautiful glow where Bast and Damien would be standing. Though the sun worried me, as I wasn't sure how long Samantha could stand here, no one else seemed to be worried about it, so I decided to ignore it and focus my attention on getting everything ready.

After looking around for a few moments to see what else needed to be done, I decided to help Sam and Samantha pick up the branches still in the clearing, tossing them into the trees to the left of us. I'd noticed that I didn't see Maeve anywhere, and though I was curious where she'd gone, I chose not to say anything about it, as it really wasn't any of my business.

"Even I must admit, I did not see the hidden beauty of this place," Sinclair commented, dusting off his hands as he stood back to drink in the sight, giving it an approving nod before looking back and Bast and Damien.

"Where are the changes of clothes that Sam brought? Did you hang them up in the bathroom as I asked?" Damien asked Ciaran and Azeneth, thanking them when they told him yes.

"We're going back inside to shower and get ready," Azeneth said as she and Ciaran walked back towards the house.

"Where's Maeve?" Bast asked after looking around the group, seemingly noticing that she wasn't with us for the first time. Everyone else shared that reaction, who then shook their heads or shrugged, as no one seemed to know where she was.

"Shit," Sinclair growled after looking around and not finding her, then ran towards the other side of the house. *'He seems pissed... Oh, this is not good, is it?'* I thought as I looked over at Samantha, who shrugged and ran after him. I was going to stay by the house but found my curiosity was getting the best of me, and I found it too strong to resist, so I decided to follow Samantha.

We came around the corner just as we saw Sinclair jumping into a hole in the ground, not hesitating for a single moment before doing so. "You saw that, too, right?" I asked Samantha as we came to a stop just above where Sinclair had disappeared, looking down the hole where I could see the ground, which continued forward to the left. "Another tunnel?"

"Looks like it," Samantha agreed as she jumped down, then held a hand up to me, making sure I didn't fall when I jumped down after her. "We should stay close," she whispered, looking down the dark tunnel before us, her eyes turning blood red as we began walking forward.

"Sinclair?" I whispered, peering around another corner before following Samantha around it. The deeper we went into the tunnels, the bigger the pit in my stomach got. I could feel something powerful lurking in the tunnels, but I couldn't place what the power felt like, and to be honest, I really didn't want to. I'd thought Edward emanated power, but that was nothing compared to the energy I felt lurking in the shadows, somewhere deep within the tunnels.

"What are you doing down here?" Sinclair suddenly growled from just behind me, making me start to gasp out, but before I could make a sound, Sinclair clasped his hand over my mouth, growling lowly before glancing up at Samantha.

"We followed you, obviously. What the hell is down here, Sinclair?" Samantha growled, her eyes blood-red as she looked up and down the path we were on and the direction we'd just come from. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"Behind you. You made a wrong turn a couple turns back." Sinclair said as he finally seemed to remember that he had his hand covering my mouth, then took a step back, lowering his hand. "She's not down here. I thought she'd come here when no one was looking."

"You didn't answer the question, Sinclair. What the hell is down here?" I said, following him as he started to lead us down the dark pathways, making one turn after another. I wasn't sure where he was leading us, but I was glad he was, as I know for a fact that I would have gotten lost if I tried to navigate my way around alone.

"We think it's an anodyne. The first anodyne, or at the very least, one of the first." Sinclair said, growling when Samantha started to respond, putting his finger to his lips, telling us to remain silent. "It took control of Maeve last night. She's the one that found the opening in the yard, and it quite literally killed her to get down here, and once she did, it made her start tearing through the wall to release it." He explained as he led us down another passage, then paused, motioning to the mostly destroyed wall. He stared cautiously at the wall for a few moments before moving closer, looking in through the small hole.

"What is it?" I whispered after waiting a few seconds, trying to gauge Sinclair's response, but he didn't seem to have one. That was until he finally backed away, his eyes wide and frozen in a mixture of shock and horror. He opened his mouth to try to speak, but nothing came out, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn't until I took a step closer to try and see in as well that Sinclair snapped out of it and pushed me back, shaking his head. He ushered Samantha and me back through the tunnels before he ran forward, leading us back to the entrance where Maeve was standing there on the surface, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared down at us.

"A man of your word, are you? You promised you wouldn't go back down there without me, yet, here you are. And with Sammy and Mercy?" Maeve said, her voice low and even, the coldness of her tone like a dagger made of ice.

"You disappeared, Maeve. I thought maybe it got into your head again, and you went down into the tunnels." Sinclair said as he helped me out of the tunnel, then Samantha.

"The twins put up the border in my head as I told you they would. The entire point in it was to make sure he couldn't get back into my head."

"I'm sorry I was worried about you. Where did you go?"

"To use the bathroom, Sinclair. Do I need your permission to use the bathroom now?" Maeve growled as she closed the distance between the two of them, putting her hands on her hips as she glared up at him, not seeming to care that he was easily three times her size and towered over her by at least a foot.

"No, of course not. I apologize for the assumption, truly." Sinclair said with a sigh, shaking his head as he looked down at her.

"Not to break up your argument, but are you going to tell us what you saw down there? I've never seen a recreant terrified of something, yet that was the only thing I could see in your eyes." Samantha cut in, looking back and forth between Maeve and Sinclair, waiting.

"I don't know what I saw. The only thing I could see was a black wall that looked to be leather on the other side of the hole."

"I'm going to have to call bullshit. You're telling me you reacted like that to a wall, Sinclair?" I asked, crossing my arms over his chest as I watched him.

"Yes, because that's truly all that I saw. A black leathery wall, with long veins running through it, breathing."

"I- What?" Maeve gasped, her blue-green eyes going wide in a mixture of horror and curiosity.

"The reason I reacted that way to the wall is that I saw it breathe. Slow, steady breaths, just like anything with a heartbeat. The wall moved back and forth in rhythm to the heartbeat I could hear behind it, and that is the reason I reacted that way. It's not a wall, clearly, but that's all I could see."

"Holy shit," I breathed out after a few moments of silence, looking from Sinclair to Sam, then finally to Maeve, unsure of what else to say.

"Sinclair and I agreed not to tell anyone else about it until after the wedding. I think it's pretty clear why." Maeve said as we started walking back towards the house.

"Alaric and I have something to tell the group, and we wanted to wait until after the wedding too." I snorted with a shake of my head, falling back so we wouldn't reach the house too quickly, as there was still much that needed to be said. "We've got people coming after us, but mostly you, Maeve. People have already started in Europe, and that's why we moved here. Plus, Alaric wants Samantha to be his second because I'm not a vampire, and I can't be. There's just a lot of shit happening all at once, and I'm tired of it."