The cars were invisible in the night, making it look like headlights were simply floating on the highway. Luna barely noticed as she crossed each state border, her attention never wavered from the road in front of her and the monotonous voice of Siri, as it told her where to go. She knew if she were to give herself a moment to think, she'd start hyperventilating and drive the car off of a cliff. So, she kept herself in check by counting the number of cars that passed by with a headlight out and tapping her fingers on the rim of her steering wheel. So far, her distractions had worked- that was until, Will decided they needed to actually talk about it.

"You're unbelievable, Luna." Will was slumped back in his chair, his hands massaging his temples.

"That seems to be the new motto of my life: unbelievable," she honked her horn as the traffic slowly rolled to a stop. Without the wind howling in their ears and Siri's strange lull in directions, there a notable silence in the car.

"Did that little trip to the past screw with your brain, Lu? Now isn't the time to be making jokes," Will turned around in his chair, his eyes pleading with Luna, but she continued to sit forward, hands at ten and two on the wheel.

"Please, then, enlighten me! What is it that I'm supposed to do? Am I supposed to mope like you are or be incredibly nonchalant like Twyla is? I don't know what to do, Will, but I know I don't want to talk about it or think about it. I just want my mom back." She bit down on her lip as her eyes began to burn.

"And what are you going to do once you get your mom back? She lied to you, your entire life and just when you think you knew the truth, turns out she lied to you once again."

Luna already knew how bad the whole situation was, she didn't need Will to rehash it all for her. But, the truth was, she didn't know what she was going to do if or when she saw her mom again. "We'll cross that bridge once we get there, right now saving her is all that matters."

Shaking his head, Will flopped back into his seat and crossed his arms. "You're a Goddess, Luna." Normally, when Will said things like that his voice would be light and teasing with a flirtatious edge, now his voice just sounded heavy. "You were alive back in the 1800s and probably a lot earlier than that too."

Her hands tightened on the wheel. "Will-" She warned but he cut her off.

"I get it, you might not want to talk about it but I have to or else I'm going to go crazy. I keep struggling between being excited that my girlfriend is an all knowing and all powerful immortal being, and just being scared."

She flinched, "I-I'm not all knowing and especially not all powerful." Her breath shudder in her chest, "And I would never hurt you, Will. I'm sorry about what happened at your house but I promise that will never happen again. I'll learn to control it."

His eyes shuddered to a close as Xavier's words replayed in his head. Rule number one: never fall in love with a witch. "I'm not scared that you'll witch-out and zap me or anything. I'm scared you'll leave me."

Luna looked over at Will, her resistance crumbled at the sound of his broken voice. He was hunched in his seat, his honey colored curls looked like a gold halo in the pale light of the headlights. Her heart shuddered upon feeling the devastation that wallowed within him. She tried so hard to block his feelings and thoughts but she could have picked up on how he felt even without her powers, they had been attuned with each other since kindergarten. Any pain he felt, was her pain as well.

"I love you William Haverstock," Will slowly brought his eyes up to Luna's. "It doesn't matter who I was before or who I loved before, what matters is that in this life I'm Luna Goodwin and I love you."

The sound of a horn, broke the two from their intimate moment. Glancing out of the side of her rear view mirror, Luna watched as a motorcycle weaved its way in between the honking cars. It came to her as no shock when she saw two familiar figures, wrapped in leather, as they whizzed down the centerline of the highway. It wasn't a race, by any means, but Will couldn't help but feel like he was losing.

-----

The sound of honking horns followed Twyla as she arrived in New York City. The first thing she noticed as she dismounted her bike in the crumbling parking garage, was that the city that never sleeps was also the city that never stops talking. Random people were shouting at one another as they crossed the streets, children were crying as they clung to their parents, and just about every third person seemed to talking on their cell phone. And, it was only four in the morning! The sun had only just begun to rise above the Hudson, and thousands of people had already flooded the streets. She couldn't even comprehend how busy it would be by the afternoon; finding Alix was going to be difficult.

"Ah, the concrete kingdom," Xavier inhaled deeply, "Smell that?"

Twyla's nose wrinkled in disgust as she caught a whiff of something rotten. "Are you talking about the sewage?"

"Sewage?" Xavier's nostrils flared once more as he took another deep breath. He chuckled when he found the scent Twyla was talking about. "That's not sewage. That, is rotting rat corpses. I was talking about a more figurative scent. The scent of passion, you can always get a whiff of it while walking into New York. Try not to actually breathe, it's not very safe."

"Right, because it's not like I'm part human or anything." Twyla rolled her eyes. Running her fingers across the length of her bike, she watched as the metal began to glow as a sizzling sound emitted from the leather seat and handlebars. As soon as she tucked her hand away, the glowing stopped, leaving only a trail of smoke to suggest that anything had actually happened to the bike.

"Did you just try to set your bike on fire?"

"No!" Twyla looked horrified at the thought, her jaw hung open and silver eyes were blazing. "It was a spell I learned from my Aunt Nyx. Instead of locking the bike, now anyone who tries to take it-that isn't me-will get burned."

Xavier only shrugged in response. He supposed that made sense, why do things the easy way when there was magic involved? "I'm guessing we should find you sister and her boyfriend?"

"Ugh. If we must," Twyla let her head fall and cracked the bones in her neck. Pulling out her, phone she punched in Luna's number with more force than needed and tapped her boot against the floor as she waited.

"What are you going to do?" Twyla asked Xavier. "The sun'll be rising in another hour or two."

His piercing gaze flickered over to the New York skyline, appraising the pinkish, orange tones that painted the sky. The rising sun didn't seem to faze him in the least when he spoke, but Twyla noticed the tension in his shoulders. "I have friends in area. I'll hide out there and then, when the sun goes down, call me."

"You don't have to stay here, Xavier," Twyla's voice dropped to a whisper. Her eyes fell to the ground, as she found a part of herself not liking the idea of him leaving. It was stupid and she was surely going to talk herself out of it later but she found that she actually liked the vampire's company.

She didn't realize he was standing in front of her, until he captured her chin between his fingers and pulled her face up to look at him. His eyes had deepened to a terrifying shade of blood red but instead of being afraid of the monster that lurked within him, Twyla couldn't help but feel comfortable as if she were with one of her own. Xavier's silky black locks were swept back by the wind, revealing his high cheekbones and strong nose. He had the sort of mouth that just looked like it was well acquainted with kissing and a jawline that could cut diamonds. If Twyla were to be completely honest though, his beauty angered her and she much preferred his smart ass comments and dirty jokes. The flaws within his personality were her only clues that at one point he was human and just as messed as she was.

"I'm here because I want to be here, Twyla. I know you might find that hard to believe but-" he stopped for a second and collected his thoughts, "Give me tonight and I'll try to explain it to you."

Twyla's eyes fell close as he pressed his lips against her forehead. When she reopened her eyes, he was gone but the fevered feeling of his lips against her skin would not leave so easily. Biting down on her bottom lip, she held back the smile that threatened to appear and called her sister again. "Pick up, pick up, pick up," she chanted as she roamed through the parking garage, trying to find a signal.

"Luna's phone. How may I help?" Will's obnoxiously cheery voice rang through the other side of the line.

"Where's my sister?"

"Oh- it's you," Twyla ignored the groan that followed that statement. "She's driving right now, we're pulling into a parking garage."

"I'm gonna need you to be a little more specific, Billyboy. Where is this parking garage?" Walking over to the ledge, Twyla looked out onto the busy street and took note of all the nearest landmarks.

"It's right across from this big billboard with a witch on it- wow- that's pretty ironic." Twyla's lips thinned into a hard line, she hoped that by some miracle he would get lost in the city and she'd never have to deal with him again.

"It's a billboard for the Broadway show Wicked, idiot. I'm in the same garage, I'll meet you on the ground level."

Not wanting a. answer, Twyla hung up the phone and shoved it in the pocket of her jeans. It wasn't until she was at the elevator, waiting for the metal box to reach her level, did she realize that someone was watching her. It wasn't something she could easily identify at first, when the hairs on the back of her neck had stood up, she thought it was just the wind. And then, her magic began to sizzle in her veins. She tried to keep it cool, shifting her weight from one side to the other as she casually glanced over her shoulder. But no one was behind her.

At least, that's what it had looked like, because just as she turned around a cold hand grabbed her by the neck and shoved her against the the cement wall. She tried to shove back, her legs kicking wildly as she punched his back but the man was unaffected by her attacks. The kicking and punching seemed to only be wearing out Twyla, her breath turned shallow as his grip tightened around her neck. His eyes were coal black, as if there was nothing within him and skin as pale as snow. There was a cold, calculating look on his face that shook Twyla down to the core.

"Twyla Goodwin," He said and smiled. His teeth were sharp and filed to points. He looked like a shark, with the promise of death in his grin. "We've been looking for you."

"A-Are you a part of the Delphi?" Twyla clawed at the hand around her neck.

"Give me the book." That sounded like a yes to Twyla.

When she became painfully aware she would not be able to fight her way free, Twyla's face twisted with rage and her magic surged in her veins. His face contorted with fear before his body flew back, landing with a thud on the hood of car. Running over to the elevator, Twyla jammed her thumb against the button, while glancing back at the man.

"Come on!" She yelled as she heard him groan. A sickening crunch sounded as he threw out his arm, popping the bones back into place. Just as he was about to reset his leg, a ding sounded and Twyla jumped into the elevator. He jumped onto the ground, revealing a human-sized dent in the hood of the car. His black eyes shined with malice but the shark-like grin remained in place. Instead of running after her, the man waved goodbye as the doors slid to a close, a silent promise hung in the air.

Threading her fingers through her hair, Twyla leaned against the hand-rail and stared at her reflection on the steel wall. A faint blush tinted her alabaster cheeks, her silver eyes were were wide and frantic looking- she looked more like she had just emerged from a passionate make out session rather than a fight. Inside her chest, she could feel her heart beating at a speed that was much faster than what was healthy. Releasing her hair, she placed a hand over her heart and took deep breaths. Slowly, the rise and fall over chest became less dramatic and her breath returned to normal. A ding sounded above her head, as a red light flashed and the doors slid open. There were two people standing outside of the elevator doors, their heads bent together, speaking expressively with their hands.

"Luna! Will!" Twyla ran out of the elevator and grabbed the two by their arms.

"Ow! What the hell Twyla?" Luna struggled to keep up with her sister as she pulled them into busy sidewalk.

"Questions later. Right now, I have to find Alix."

"What does this Alix girl look like again," Will cocked his head to the side, scanning the crowd.

"Tall, long red hair, she wears a lot of black," Twyla rattled off the first things that came to mind.

"Great," Luna sighed, "That could be anyone- including Black Widow."

"Are you looking for me?" Asked a voice so sweet, it was like dripping honey. Twyla spun around, her lips quirked into a crooked grin as her eyes met a very familiar emerald stare.

**I am so so sorry I did not update yesterday, I finished the chapter yesterday but I forgot to publish it and I have a very good reason. I'm kidding- I have an awful reason- I was so immersed in reading Throne of Glass, I had no idea what was going on in the world around me. Oh my god that book is amazing, if you haven't read it, I totally recommend it. Anyway, so Alix will officially be apart of the story from now on and we are also seeing an interesting development between two of my favorite characters. *Cough* Twyla *Cough* Xavier. I hope you guys liked this chapter and thank you for reading!

XOXO,
Ro.**