Aila stared at her reflection in the mirror of the grimy public toilets. Unlike so of the other hunters’ compounds which seed almost state of the art with the best technologies and wealth thrown into it, this compound was relatively cheap.
That was reflected in the toilets that didn’t seem to have been cleaned in a few weeks, with stains covering the walls and the sll of urine floating in the air.
Aila wrinkled her nose but didn’t continue observing the toilets that she would never enter again. Cassius had returned to the compound after whatever the hell he did, and so she needed to see what ss Damon had left her in. Usually, she didn’t mind; her mate always left her in so form of a ss with dishevelled hair left in knots that anyone could tell was from a crazy sex session.
"Since when was it never crazy?" Malia all but purred in gratification.
Aila rolled her eyes, noting the smudged mascara, and smudged pink lipstick against dewy and flushed skin. She saw how her lips were still slightly swollen and her eyes still too bright and shook her head. Lowering herself to the sink, she ran the water and splashed her face, all the while calming her thoughts.
The distance Cassius had put between them, even though it was for a short while, felt like bliss. Aila didn’t need to constantly watch how she acted or control her thoughts, Malia had breathed more leisurely, and she was pretty sure Davian and Harry had been the sa. But the fact Cassius left, he fully acknowledged the amount of power he had over them; none of them dared to go.
Did it even cross his mind that they would try? Or if it did, he probably laughed it off; it would be foolish.
Aila was certain he wouldn’t care if Davian and Harry did. If anything, he could call Davian back like he did all those centuries ago to help him escape the tomb his brother put Cassius in. She cleared her throat and watched in the mirror as the water dripped down her face and throat before wiping at the smudges. Now she was back to being restricted.
That short ti away from him felt like so sort of torture, returning a form of a leash around her neck that had already burned her from the friction.
The dull lights in the toilets started to flicker and buzz, drawing Aila’s attention away from her thoughts as a humming noise and the feeling of another presence behind her sent an icy shiver down her spine.
"It’s been a while, your highness."
Aila’s eyes snapped up to the mirror’s reflection and at the sudden appearance of a certain rogue she-wolf casually standing in the toilets with her arms crossed and waves of dark brown hair falling around her. She bared her neck in respect to the Luna, waiting for her shock to wear off. Aila spun around, facing the petite werewolf in hella confusion and panic.
What the hell was Es Snow doing here?
Here!? In the hunters’ compound.. Where Cassius was just outside!
"What are you doing here? No.. Hold on.. How did you get in here?" Aila scanned the locked door and the surrounding dull white tiled room. The window at the far top of the wall was too small even for Es to get through.
Es placed her finger over her lips, her eyes wandering to the side, indicating she knew exactly who was outside these barracks. Yet no fear gripped her like Aila expected; instead, her lips curled into a smirk. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around this bizarre situation; how did she get in there without Cassius or the others knowing?
Unlike before, when she saw Damon, the others were preoccupied, now though they were waiting outside.
Aila halted the steps she’d started to take towards Es, tilting her head slightly as she took a closer look at the rogue. Es had always seed jittery and nervous, eyes glancing in all directions for routes of escape. She knew parts of her story and understood why unease used to radiate from her in waves. But here, standing before her, Es was none of the above.
Es stood there silently, confident, and composed, her chin tilted slightly up, her shoulders set straight. What happened for the girl to change in such a short amount of ti? It had only been two months, right?
"A lot can happen in that ti," Malia remarked dryly as images of their ti together flashed behind her eyes. Aila blinked it away, it was distracting, and they didn’t have much ti left before Cassius would co find her.
"Look, we don’t have ti for tea and biscuits and having a lovely chat as to my ability to get to you unseen." Es stepped forward, then paused, sniffing and raising a brow, not coming any closer to her. "I suppose I’m not needed to help cover your sll. I’m just here to let you know you’re not completely alone.."
Her dark chocolate brown eyes lit up in amusent. "I’ll be your shadow. I can’t be with you all the ti, but I’ll pop in and out. I can relay ssages between you and Damon.. No kinky, sexual ones, please.." She then threw sothing like blue dust over Aila, who instantly sneezed and frowned at her hands where this coloured dust covered her skin.
Aila watched with widened eyes as the dust started to sink into her skin, leaving a faint glowing outline of a geotric pattern before completely disappearing. "What is this? What did you.." She raised her eyes to Es, the accusatory tone in her voice trailing off. The petite she-wolf, who seed clouded in secrets, just told Aila she was her shadow.
Sowhere in the back of her mind, Aila rembered reading the terminology. Was it just a helper? She had plenty of them-
"Call for help, call the na- ’Nyx’ and I’ll be there in seconds. The shit I coated you in is a warlock’s spell binding us together. Don’t worry, it’s nothing more than a locator, and if I am not near you when you call for , the spell will bring
to you imdiately," Es explained, her words rushing almost into one word.
Then she glanced to the side, almost like her gaze pierced through the walls, and she knew ti was up.
Es sighed, setting her gaze on Aila again. "Rember, call for help or Nyx."
Nyx? Was this a code na or a nickna? What was wrong with using Es?
"If I said Es instead?" Aila replied with a smirk, unable to control the feeling of rebellion in her stomach. Maybe seeing Damon brought back her spirit, even if she had to squish it after these interactions once more when Cassius returned.
Es rolled her eyes. "Then I’d just be annoyed. But if you’re with Cass when this happens, it might take him a few seconds before he realises who I am, and by then, it is too late."
Cass? Aila’s eyes narrowed subtly with intrigue. Es used his na so casually that it was almost like they knew of each other. Maybe she did? Maybe they ran into each other. Es had been staying at Gabriel’s penthouse when she last saw her.
That bit didn’t concern her as much as her thoughts next went to. Aila looked over Es’s tiny body, and a shiver ran through her as she imagined Cassius’ wicked grin and chilling eyes as he killed her. The thought slipped her mind the mont a cold blade kissed the skin of her throat.
Aila gasped at Es’s speed. It was like a vampire’s, and the precision of the dagger steadily held against her long neck was skilled. Her eyes lowered to Es’s, marvelling at the change in her features. She was like so damned deadly goddess. Aila felt a sudden chill run down her spine as pheromones of fear and power radiated off from the she-wolf.
Was she.. a hybrid?
Aila grabbed her hand, about to test the girl, but Es slipped from her fingers, tutting as she backed away. "Keep that stench of another man on you, not on . Amica a will not be pleased with that."
Amica what?
"Rember.. Help or Nyx," Es whispered.
Then before she could ask any more questions, the lights began to flicker again as Es stepped back into the shadows that completely engulfed her until she was no longer there. Aila blinked. Then blinked so more.
What the f-
The banging on the door startled her out of her cursing thoughts. "Aila, what’s taking so long?" It was Davian.
"Coming!"
She looked back at herself in the mirror, the wildness of her gaze still there but for completely different reasons. What did she just witness? Es was her shadow, but then she disappeared into the shadows? Was Es a witch? Was she going insane? Did all of that really happen?
"That really happened," Malia comnted, her voice stupefied like how Aila felt.
"But you’re a part of , so how do you know that really happened-"
"Stop being dramatic," Malia snapped. "We don’t have ti to think about Es right now. Control your thoughts, control your feelings, tis up, girl."
As if to make her point, a single bang on the door and the tug of the master-childe bond told her who exactly was on the other side of the door. "I’m coming, Cass." She unlocked the door, an icy glare and composed features staring back at the white-haired vampire.
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