Half-Bloods R • 2 : Growing Shadows

C • 15 : Fire in Darkness, Blood in Music

Vaelan wrapped a single arm around Demi as they sat at the table, Karliah sat across from them, and two small menus were displayed before them. They all ordered their coffees and small plates of pastries, and Demi was quickly heading the conversation.

"So how did Darwin react to Arva's escape?"

Karliah closed her bluish-grey eyes and sighed, "He's been real grumpy since it happened, so I forced him to take a day off and decided that I would stick with you two for a while before going over to his place and checking on him."

A couple of days had passed since Arva's escape, and not a trace of her nor the agent had been found. Even Vaelan had gone off to search for the woman, but his flight had proved to be useless.

"I bet Darwin is super eager to lead a search team to find her," Demi said as their coffees and plates arrived.

"Actually," Karliah took a sip of her dark coffee, as he watched her Vaelan realized that her hair had actually grown out a little, now reaching down to the middle of her neck instead of being shaved down to almost nothing, "Gwindolyn is heading the search, as usual, she trusts no one but herself."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure she doesn't trust herself either," Vaelan removed the wrapper of a freshly made blueberry muffin.

The girls both laughed at the comment, but Vaelan had truly meant it, Gwindolyn had always been a woman of the unexpected. He bit into the muffin and tore back at the sweetness of the pastry, he then handed it to Demi when he noticed her staring at him with an amused smile.

He grimaced at Karliah, "I thought you said this place catered to the humanth palate."

"It is when you order for a special palate and don't just put down a normal order," she smirked.

"Could've told me that," he washed the sweetness away with bitter coffee.

"Come on Vaelan, it ain't that bad," Demi gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before biting into the muffin.

They sat there for hours talking and joking amongst themselves. Vaelan ordered himself a muffin that wouldn't sour his taste buds, and Demi laid her head in her arms as she leaned against the table. Karliah and Demi played games with their hands while Vaelan texted Anna to make sure everything was in order at the house. Demi peered over at his phone and sneered.

"Checkin' on your precious daughter, pops?" She teased, lightly bumping him with an elbow.

Karliah's went stiff, "Did you two adopt?"

They both looked at her. "In a way," Vaelan said, while Demi blurted out, "Yes!"

The hemomancer stayed quiet for a moment, then huffed, "That's not a question you give different answers to."

Vaelan called for the check and quickly paid, he stood and gave his hand to Demi, pulling her to her feet as Karliah stood. They made their way outside, where Vaelan continued.

"We- Well, I have custody of Anna until they decide a proper age for her to be considered an adult. Her advanced aging really creates a ton of problems. She's only five years old, and yet biologically speaking, she's no different from a seventeen-year-old. It's believed that in a few months, she'll be about the same as a twenty-four-year-old, and from there, the aging will either cease or continue," he said, pulling Demi close and bathing in her warmth.

Karliah sounded as if she almost choked on something, before quickly clearing her throat, "What happens if her aging continues?"

"If it continues, the doctors say that by the time she's eighteen she'll have the body of an eighty-year-old unless we can find a cure for the aging," he turned his head to the sky, the sun was going down and the bright blue was bleeding its way into fiery orange.