We had been on the road for about a month now and Rakesh had finally seemed to narrow down a few select people who might know the location of the people who had taken my parents. We were staying at a rather lavish hotel, something I never imagined I'd go to in all my life. We had travelled further north England than I had ever been before, being from Wales personally - not that I knew how to speak Welsh mind you - but that's a whole other topic.
"So, there is a formal invite-only party tonight, right?" I asked Rakesh as we both settled into our room for the next few days. This party was going to be held over the weekend, and apparently, Rakesh knew the host of the gathering and was able to get us into the festivity without too much trouble.He nodded at me while setting aside some of his things for later. He then paused and peered at me for a moment. "I am doubting you have formal attire," he said after a moment. I rubbed the back of my neck. Regardless if I owAfter a good day's sleep and returning to the tailor shop to pick up the outfits that had been tweaked to fit our forms better, Rakesh and I were dressed to impress. I wore a white smart shirt, black striped trousers with a buckle and belt and a black waistcoat with shiny black shoes. I had originally protested against the cost of the outfit, but Rakesh refused to hear my complaints.Rakesh himself wore a similar outfit, but the colours were swapped, his shirt was black and his waistcoat was white. It was warm enough that neither of us needed a coat and Rakesh didn't like to be weighed down too much.He styled my hair back so that it was out of my eyes. It had grown so long now that my fringe easily hid my eyes, though I almost always kept it brushed to one side, so it only covered the one eye. Now, however, it was slicked back with hair gel into a rather fancy style. Rakesh's own hair was tied up in a white bow. I thought he looked dashing but I did not voice
The party was nothing like I had ever experienced before. It seemed the rich had their own set of rules they followed and it was fascinating to watch them. Rakesh was true to his word and introduced me to some of his associates, though he did not once mention who my parents or grandparents were. I supposed it was for the best that none knew my family were Hunters or else the supernatural beings would panic and think I was a danger to them.The host of the party was an elderly man who seemed to be about the same age as my grandparents. He wasn't familiar to me, but Rakesh seemed to know who he was and had told me to stay put where he could keep an eye on me but wished a moment to speak with the man alone. I felt that it would be fine, none of the supernatural here had seemed to take too much of an interest in me, from what I could tell, even with me being around Rakesh.I moved over to the banquet table which had several drinks and snacks and picked a few to try
Voices around me sounded muffled as I slowly stirred awake. I couldn't quite tell what was being said at first but whoever it was sounded almost angry. I raised a hand to my forehead, a massive headache was pounding away in my head."You promised me that my grandson wouldn't get involved!" The voice was saying. I tried to open my eyes but everything was blurry. Were my grandparents here? Why would they be here of all places? No. It didn't sound like my grandpa. I tried to focus on my surroundings.Rakesh's familiar voice rang out but all I could see were shadowy figures, "I had no choice! You know I cannot fight her. How else will I free your daughter? Those two old idiots would sooner kill all of us than help, they only gave in because of him!"What were they talking about? I tried to speak but my voice came out a strained sound. The two shadowy figures stopped fighting and stepped over to me."You used too much mind control on him," the
Surprised. That was how I felt when I heard those words. So this old man was my grandpa from my mother's side. I didn't even know he existed a few weeks ago and now here he was right in front of me and one of Rakesh's associates because of course, he was. Rakesh seemed to be connected to everything."You're... my mother's father?" I asked him to confirm this information. I held my head and sighed out softly. He nodded and I looked at him with confusion as so many thoughts raced through my mind. Why didn't I know about him if this was true? Why didn't he try to contact me at all? And what didn't he want me involved in at all? What had Rakesh promised? I wanted to know everything."I know you probably have a thousand questions," the old man said and then, introduced himself, "my name is Edward, but you can call me Ed or Eddie." He held out his hand to shake mine and I obliged with a firm handshake of my own."Kayden," I replied, though he seemed aware
The phone call didn't last too long before Edward stood up and told me to come quickly. Confused, the two of us headed out of the penthouse and back down to the hotels' reception where a few people were waiting for us. They seemed to be bodyguards of some kind. I could tell that they were werewolves, their large bulky forms stood tall though they paid me little to no attention."You need to stop him from killing her, they're out back," a smaller man behind the bodyguards was telling Edward. He seemed to be fretting. "We can't get anywhere near them, Rakesh won't let us."I blinked at the weedy man. I couldn't tell what he was at first, but then I noticed the crinkled ears, the tell-tale sign of a goblin. He was probably the manager. Rem had told me they could be a little feisty but it seemed this one was nervous and I didn't need to guess why. Rakesh had shown me how easily he could make the supernatural cower away from him should he desire it.Edwar
There were so many more questions I wanted to ask Rakesh and Edward both, but for now, I knew addressing the manager of the siren was more important. We had found him easily enough and although he put up some minor resistance to being around Rakesh, he finally relented and agreed to talk to us."It was a pretty young girl that asked," the goblin was saying now that he was in his true form. This was the first time seeing it and at first, I was surprised, but it was certainly helping me come to terms with the supernatural world."Go into more details or I swear I'll hang you by your feet," Rakesh said threateningly although my grandfather managed to keep him from actually going forward with his threats. Watching the poor manager cower was almost pitiful.I lingered behind them, my headache had only grown worse and now I was feeling a little too warm. We had moved into my grandfather's penthouse for privacy so I knew if I got worse, I could easily take
Morning came too quickly and the headache that plagued me over the night had finally subsided. I had managed to get a small amount of sleep but I still felt a little off. I kept getting hot and cold flashes all night and my grandfather had spent most of the night taking care of me. He finally fell asleep in the chair next to my bed when my fever had calmed.I got up carefully and quietly. The sunshine that managed to sneak into the room made my eyes hurt so I stumbled my way to the bathroom across the way from the room I was in. I took a long drink of water and splashed my face to try and get rid of the sticky sweat from my sleepy face. I felt awful because of the lack of any decent rest.I looked into the mirror to get a look at myself, my hair was a complete mess and my face was pale. Something else was off, but at first, I couldn't figure out what it was. I put it down to the fact that I was just unwell with something and began to try and tidy up my hair. Th
Edward settled down on the couch beside me. He rubbed at his wrinkled forehead in thought. "Your grandmother, my wife, she wasn't human," he said quietly and then glanced at Rakesh a moment before back to me. "I don't know what she was, she never explained it to me either. We met when I was much younger," he continued and leaned back into the couch.I nodded slowly. It was a surprise to hear that my other grandmother wasn't human. This was the first time I had heard this, but then again, this was the first time learning I even had other grandparents. I wondered where she was now, if she wasn't human she'd surely be alive still, right? I didn't ask. I was sure I'd find out."It was a fairly dark night and I was driving home in my car after a long shift at my father's company," Edward began to explain to me. "That's when she ran out into the road, she was chased by someone and I suppose she must have seen my headlights and took the risk to dart across to get away