Amongst The Shadows

Chapter 4

Ariel moaned when she felt the sun touching her face and with her headache it wasn't helping what so ever!

She groaned as she pulled her sheet up above her head and sighing into the darkness.

"You break my heart, hiding from me when we have barely begun"

That sent her heart into over drive, she pulled the sheet from her hastily as the man from the other night stood before her with a crooked smile.

"What do you want?" She croaked out. The man smiled at her as he whistled a happy tune while spinning his gun.

"Your bullet actually killed my man, you knew who we were. A human! Knowing who we were! Imagine my surprise!"

Ariel frowned at the man but said nothing.

The pair grew silent as he watched her before smiling like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh wait no you refuse to believe it!" He said clapping his hands as his smile grew.

"Get out of my house" she threatened but he simply laughed at her threat and perched himself on the edge of her bed and did something that truly disgusted her to her core.

He laughed and licked the gun, slowly while his eyes stayed on her.

"A gift to you my dear" he said smiling wickedly as he threw the gun to her and Ariel wanted to throw up.

"Ah I hear footsteps, best be off!" He said and before she could say anything his body morphed to black smoke and flew out the window just as the handsome man with violet eyes barged through her door.

"Where is he?!"

Ariel groaned at how loud the man was and clutched her head in pain. She did not need this with her hangover!

"Nope" she then decided outloud and lay back down with the sheet covering her head, sighing in content.

Eric growled at her and the lingering scent of the dark mage.

He turned to the bed and pulled the sheet from her in his anger and she glared at him.

"What the fuck!" She growled at him and he glared at her.

"Get your shit together Ariel! I am sick of this denial shit you've been through. It's been 5 years since Walter's death and now a mage a dark mage no less has come into your very home!"

"How do you even know my name? Where I live? My father! Get out of my house!" She yelled right back at him standing on her bed in anger at the nerve of this man.

He glared at her before leaving without looking back. The only sound after that was her heavy breathing followed by the slam of her front door.

She then felt something wet touch her foot, looking down she felt a shiver at the wet gun.

Ariel moved away from it slowly and went into her bathroom. She needed a shower, she needed to rethink and recollect her thoughts.

As she stepped into her shower, Eric paced in his office. The nerve of her! They had been tracking Ariel for 5 years and nothing happened! Why now? Why did they come out of hiding now? What happened? What caused all of this? What did Walter find? Where was his research? Why were they after Ariel?

So many questions and no answers! He yelled in anger and picked up the first thing he could find and watched as the vase smashed against the wall.

"Woah bad timing?"

Eric looked up to seeing Randel with his hands up. Eric said nothing before turning back to his desk and letting out a deep breath.

"What do you want Randel?"

"Rosa updated me on what happened between you and Ariel and you're an idiot"

Eric shot daggers to Randel who shrugged and sat opposite Eric.

"You let your emotions cloud you Alpha. Your judgement almost cost us 5 years of extensive research into Walter and his cases and we knew our missing piece was his daughter and you yelled at her to get over it. You didn't even ask if she was okay! Dark mages are twisted!"

Eric opened his mouth and closed it. He had nothing to say, Randel was right and he almost blew it.

"I know you are stressed and worried but maybe we should go and talk to her as civilised people. If we want her to open up then we also need to open up. Shouting solves nothing" Randel reasoned and Eric nodded stunned by his friend. He had his moments of stupidity but damn did the man pull through.

"Very well gather Rosa and Leo we need to leave now"

Randel smiled before walking away. Eric leant forward and rubbed his temples. He hoped Ariel was ready for what was to come.

Eric wasn't far off from his thinking, Ariel was thinking the same and decided she was far from ready for this. For any of this to resurface.

She looked at the licked gun that currently laid on her kitchen bench. It beat like a heart as her memories resurfaced. Did she want to reopen old wounds? All the endless nights training with her dad?

He never had been truthful with her. She knew he was a cop but what he did while on the job? He never told her, just always wanted her to train. Her mother? Never knew her. All she knew was she abandoned Ariel and her dad quicker than anything.

Something had happened though, 5 years ago that night where she refused to believe any of it was real. He had let her in, at the time she didn't know why but now she knew it was because he had been marked for death.

Before she could delve deeper into her past a knock on the door broke her from her trance.

She opened up her bottom draw and withdrew her gun and hid it behind her back. People would think she was crazy to have that many guns within her house but no matter how much she wished her father's work was just insanity he had died because of it and she now had that said work that killed him, she was as a result a bit paranoid.

"Who is it?" She asked as she reached for the handle.

"Open we need to talk"

"Why?" She questioned, she knew that voice but she also remembered the events of the night before and this morning was nothing pleasant.

"Just talk, answer the questions I know you have about how we know who you are and know about your father" the voice pleaded. She breathed in deeply and looked at her door knob.

Why did she feel like opening a simple knob would invite things she truly wasn't ready for?

"Give me one reason why I should trust anything you say?" She said, trying to stall for time.

"Because, your father's demons are out to play Ariel and they will not make the same mistake twice"