Imprinted Hearts

Chapter 18: Location Location Location!

"Alexis!" Lucien waved her down as they pulled up to her house. He exited the van and headed towards her where she was standing on the small porch.

"You! You stupid son of a bitch!" Alexis bristled. "You left us! You fucking left us!" She marched up to Lucien and slapped him.

"Hey!" Hope called, getting out of the van too.

"I thought you were better than that, Lucien! You're not the person I thought you were," Alexis spat.

"No," Lucien said, shaking his head and rubbing his cheek. "I'm not the person you wanted me to be. You wanted me to be there for him like he was for me, and I couldn't do that. I had to save what I loved the most, and I did. If I could have gone back and done it again, I would have saved the people that didn't stand a chance against her all over again. I couldn't let Ethan get cursed. I couldn't let Hope, who I thought was helpless against her, get cursed either."

"Hello," Hope said, stepping forward between Alexis and Lucien. She held up a badge inside of a wallet and lowered her voice. "I'm with the Coalition of Magical Regulation and Species Protection, Paranormal Investigations Unit, and I have a few questions for you, Ms. Poe."

"Hope, don't antagonize her right now," Lucien pleaded.

"She was operating high level spells in the public's eye without a license. Do you know what kind of traffic control we need to do when someone just recklessly uses magic in front of civilians?" Hope countered. "And are you going to represent her in the magical court of law should she continue to be so reckless or should I knock some sense into her now before she prostrates herself before the masses and starts up a real witch hunt? We're not playing around, Ms. Poe. This is a serious matter. And if you want our help to get Louie back, I suggest you shape up and stop attacking your allies."

There was a beat as Alexis and Hope stared each other down.

"Fucking narc," Alexis snipped, turning back and opening the side door to her house and motioning for them to follow.

Hope didn't reply, just rolled her eyes.

The three of them followed into the house that was decorated from top to bottom with a Live Laugh Love aesthetic. It contrasted with Alexis's goth aesthetic and almost seemed like she was entering someone else's home. When they exited the living room, or the front room, and went into the kitchen, Alexis turned to the left and went down a hallway that ended in a linen closet, but also had four doors - two on either side of the hallway - that led to three bedrooms and a bathroom. She went into the second bedroom on the left across from the master bedroom, and suddenly she was in a room that made sense for her fashion choices.

There were black triple moons on the walls, candles in various places throughout on the table and desk. An altar made to look like a spooky decoration rather than an actual altar. Rocks of all different shapes and sizes decorated the room, as well as the bones of various animals. She looked like she lived in a gothic geologist's room with a soft spot for candles and skeletons. But then there were beautiful pictures on the wall with an array of colors, from rainbow to charcoal. Animals drawn in gorgeous formats, symbols painted with smatterings of color theory to make them pop. While part of her room was gothic, the other part was most definitely art witch aesthetic.

"Welcome to my humble abode," she muttered, gesturing around. "Touch anything and I'm hexing you, even with the cop here."

Lucien saw Ethan retract his hand from one of the rocks slowly and put it behind his back.

"Okay, let's ease into this," Lucien said.

"So about Louie," Hope said, not easing into anything at all but jumping in with both feet and making him wince. "We know how to find him."