Grimm Fantasies: Cinder Princess

Others

Sorry for such a long chapter guys, I'll explain why at the end I promise. ^.^

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  Aden followed the hunters; they had packed up and left the manor they'd been staying at. Aden spoke to a few Fae that had been living under cover there, they'd told him they were following some wolf and went to the great lake region. Aden honestly didn't need to ask the Fae where they went; Aden could feel the Ashely's whereabouts, it was strange and he didn't like the feeling so he wrote it off as a side effect of executing a dying wish.

   Aden however made a big mistake; he always did hate how time moved in the Mortal Realm. Aden figured he could use fairy portals to travel quickly and maybe even get to where the hunters were going before they even made it there.

   But that didn't happen. Once Aden arrived in the town the Fae had said he found five years had passed.

   Five years Ashely had been left alone with the hunters. Aden felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the date scrawled across a discarded newspaper. He searched out her magic, reaching out with his own but found nothing.

   Strange, before he went through he could sense her. Aden suddenly realized it might have been that she'd absorbed so much new magic that Aden could feel her even from such distances. Aden suddenly felt stupid for not noticing it before.

   With an irritated sigh Aden set out to the last place he knew for certain the target of his promise would be. On the outskirts of the town, the Fae had said he'd know it when he saw it simply from the way death clung to the building. He made his way, blindly, to the location.

   Aden could only imagine what the Changeling had been put through in those five years, then frowned and stopped short. He was actually worried. It wasn't as if anything bad happened to him if he failed, the Jynx hadn't said anything about a punishment. If the Changeling was indeed long dead then Aden could just go home and be done with it, however he was still bound to his promise until he found out for certain if the Changeling was really dead. He couldn't just trick himself into believing it, there had to be proof.

   He was feeling pessimistic, if the Changeling was dead and had been for five years then the likelihood if Aden finding any proof was minimal and he might every well find himself stuck, forever looking for someone who would be impossible to locate. Aden frowned ahead of him as his thoughts continued to get darker and darker when suddenly noise broke the quite silence of the sleeping forest around him, sounds of engines and shouting and even gunfire echoed around him.

   Aden raced towards the sound, only sounds like that came from hunters. Bold and stupid, it made them easy to find. Aden soon came across a large group of hunters chasing none other than a black wolf. Most likely the very same black wolf the Fae had told him the hunters were after. Aden frowned and wondered what was so special about this one mutt.

   Curious he kept a low profile and followed the action at a distance. Watching the wolf bob and weave through the trees and foliage, running from the Hunters who were on AVs. Aden was almost convinced the wolf was going to get away when he suddenly set off a trip wire. It set off an explosion and the black wolf went flying. He hit a tree, hard, and went still. Aden stopped short and crouched down low, glancing back to where the noise of the hunters was loudest.

   He didn't care for werewolves, but they usually meant fairies no harm if an agreement of territory boundaries could be met, which was usually easy to accomplish. Aden had made countless contracts with wolves. Aden didn't have a lot of interactions with hunters to gauge their threat level; however one meeting with them was still fresh in his mind and skin.