Hunted

Chapter Seventeen

Xander

It took way too much energy to keep Xerxes from taking over and tracking down the asshole that bruised our Jelly bean. Mostly because a part of me wanted him to. When I had finally calmed down I went back to bed. It was now 10am and I was staring at the note Ken had left confused.

'Went for brunch with Ryan. Planning on gathering more info about the club. It's just you and Mel today. Alone. On your own. Don't get her pregnant. I left protection in your sock drawer.'

I was going to kill him. Simple as that. I took a quick shower and walked out of the room following the smell of Bacon and Mel. My stomach rumbled. I didn't know which of the two I wanted to devour more. I paused in the entryway and watched her at the stove. Her hair was in its usual curls all over the place.

I bit my lip when I realised she was in one of my shirts. Her Deadpool pyjama pants clashing with the yellow of the shirt. She turned to put some more bacon on the already gathering pile and smiled at me.

"I was just about to come wake you up." She said. "Kenji's meeting with Ryan to gather info or so he claims."

"Who's Ryan?" I asked moving towards her.

"No idea. All I know is he probably works at the club or is a regular." She shrugged. I gently took her hand and ran my fingers gently over where there had been a bruise last night.

"I want to kill him for even touching you. Worse off leaving a bruise." I said not taking my eyes off it. The bracelet I had gotten her for her birthday sat just above it.

"This was you wasn't it?" She asked. I knew she was changing the subject, trying to distract me. I let her.

"I got it for you for your sweet sixteen. You know how you said no one came for your party? I did. I would show up every year since my first shift and every year I had to tell myself staying away was a good thing. And I couldn't do it Richard was there to remind me."

"He knew?" She whispered. I finally looked up and held her gaze.

"The first time I shifted I flew to New York to find you and confirm that my little childish crush wasn't just a crush. Your dad told me not to tell you. To give you time. Now I wish I had fought harder." I told her brushing away a curl that had fallen into her face.

"Why did I leave Xander? If the camp was the safest place at the time I don't think a job offer would have dragged us away. Why don't I remember you or any of this world? You're not someone I could easily forget."

I remembered the day she left. How she had held on to me in. How Christina had wiped her memory of the past six years. How my heart felt like it was breaking at only ten years old. And how the next time I saw her six years later I had wished even then that I had fought for her that day.

"Tell her the truth." Xerxes said.

"What if it scares her?"

"Then bend it. Omit what you have to but you need to tell her."

"I'll tell you everything tonight when you get back from the club. We can have an early morning picnic watch the sun rise and I'll tell you everything then."

"Okay." She sighed.

"Come on the food's getting cold."

.......................

I hated being useless on missions. Okay I wasn't useless I was gathering info and setting up a place for Marina after we were done. But still, not being in the middle of the action was depressing. Worse off not being able to shift. I couldn't risk getting spotted and killed just coz I wanted to stretch my legs. Maybe I could shift in the house. My phone rang pulling me out of my thoughts and I answered it Lucian's scowling face popping up on my screen.

"Nice to see you too buddy." I chuckled.

"I'm going to kill Adonis I swear." He sighed rubbing his face.

"What did I do?" I voice asked from off the camera.

"Shut it I'm still mad at you." Luc growled. His brown eyes flashing for a second. He closed them and when he opened them again the flames that had been dancing in them had died down.

Adonis was Lucian's familiar. He was like Kenji only the complete opposite. He was serious, rarely joked. Not at all hyper. Funny enough he was also the opposite of Luc.

"Did he find out what I asked?" I said pulling his attention back to me.

"Yes he did. You were right in thinking there must have been some way they were keeping Marina there. She's a siren she could have easily avoided getting caught or killed them after they did. Most likely she's been enslaved."

"Enslaved how?"

"Demon magic. That island is demon free which should be impossible. The last demon sighting was three years ago which is also the time some huge deal went down and things for the Vlassopoulos' started looking up." Adonis said showing up next to Luc on the screen his black eyes still to this day freak me the heck out.

"Man that's a mouthful. You Greeks can't think of simpler names and last names?" Lucian asked earning a glare.

"You're half Greek idiot. Both your names are Greek. I should strangle you." Don growled making me laugh at the pair.

"Yeah well Lucian Sideris rolls off the tongue. Vlassopoulos doesn't. The only reason I can pronounce it is coz I heard you say it."

"Guys." I called drawing their attention back to me.

"Oh right. You'll have to do some digging to find a way to break the spell." Luc said looking away from Don.

"Or you can summon the demon that cast it and then know what spell was cast and what counter spell to use."

"I'm not getting involved with demons." I mumbled.

"You're mated to one. I'm one. You're also best friends with one and there's that little tid bit of information that you're always denying but I won't bring it up. I can send you a summoning spell and Mel can do it." Lucian said rolling his eyes.

"What if it tricks her?"

"It'd be stupid to deceive a princess of hell and embodiment of chaos." Adonis shrugged.

"You know Don a simple no could have worked." Lucian scowled.

"If you're still not comfortable. Luc and I can come and finish the job."

"No it's fine. We'll see what else we find out before we start summoning demons."

"I need to go feed this idiot. He said he doesn't want to eat anything I cook. Doubt I'll find any fried chicken at this hour." Don sighed. Luc looked offended and gasped.

"How dare you racially profile me?"

"Am I wrong?" Adonis asked raising an eyebrow.

"No." Lucian mumbled looking away.

"Bye guys." I chuckled cutting the call.

Adonis always did that when he wanted to piss Lucian off. He'd say something stereotypical and Luc would respond by talking him to the ground. When he was wrong that is. It was how the two of them worked. Luc got a kick out of occasionally treating Adonis like he was a servant. He was sometimes a butler or a chauffeur or a maid. Don never seemed to mind. He'd never admit it but he got a kick out of it too because of the excitement on Lucian's face whenever he acted all in charge.

My mind went back to what they said. Demon magic. I wasn't getting Melaine involved in that even though it was part of who she was. I'd seen what it did to people. How it changed them. We'd figure something else out. Some other way.