5132

"Seven centuries, Eros. When would we stop?"

"When you decide it. I can't be the only one waiting-" He stopped, turning around quickly to notice who interrupted their talking.

When I scheduled a meeting with Eros, I didn't exactly expect to see him get caught with a girl. Not my fault if he forgot to say goodbye to his clients before the next meeting.

I waved, grinning.

The girl didn't take long to leave and then Eros was coming over with a grin of his own. "Can't resist a little gossip?"

I shrugged. "You two weren't exactly quiet. Who's that?"

"Catherine, Rebecca's daughter."

"The bitch has a daughter?" I threw my hands off when he raised an eyebrow. "I'm not saying sorry."

"You're not entirely wrong so..."

"What's up with the sulking?" The handful of times I've seen him in the coven, he was always grinning or cracking jokes. He looked far away from that now.

He sighed. "It's complicated."

Complicated for me was Mikhail. And the fact that I was trying to bring back Emie for two months only to face failure.

"What? The bitch doesn't want you to be with her daughter? Thinks too highly of herself?"

"That." A smile formed on his face. "And she already has a beloved."

Oh, it was that complicated.

"That sucks."

"Yeah sucks that her beloved has no problem with me but she has. She's being irrational, kinda like you, 5132. She thinks she's protecting us."

He had no idea how that felt like. "I am starting to think I'm going to like this Catherine."

"Oh, you will. Unfortunately, you caught her on the wrong day. Enough about her. What did you want to talk about?"

I took a deep breath, not wanting to show him how utterly desperate I was. "I wanted to know if you can talk to some demons again."

I expected to see him frustrated but he was looking at me with pity. That was even worse. "Look. You asked me and I did already. They don't know where she is, none of us do."

"Maybe they were low tanked demons," I suggested. That was possible, right? "Why don't you visit home for a while? Better yet, take me with you."

"You know it's not possible. We're stuck here." Fuck, I knew. Of course, I knew.

"5132, I understand you want your family back. Some of us want that do too but there was a reason the gate was closed. We've all accepted that. Maybe it's time you should too." No, no. Accepting meant giving up, moving on. I couldn't do that.

Never.

"So you can't help me."

"I didn't say that. Ask me about anything else-"

"I don't want anything else. I just need my sister back!" This wasn't the way I hoped this meeting would go. Fuck. "Either you give me some word, anything that tells me where she is. Or I'm leaving."

He stared at me, unflinching. "I'm sorry."

So be it.

I left his estate for the coven's manor. Two months. Two whole months of trying and hoping were coming to an end just like that. Hannah tried several spells from that book, spells that were forbidden to even use. We even dared to summon some demons via Eros so that I could find out in what part of the hell Emie was in. But it's like she disappeared off the hell. No one knew where she landed when she was banished with Keisha. Either I had to try harder or the other realization...it was just so surreal.

I didn't want to believe that Emie was dead. Or that Zach was too.

"How did it go?"

I didn't need to look up to see who it was. Whenever we would be in the same room, her eyes always followed mine.

"Not good. He can't help us anymore but I'm not giving up." I gritted out much to her amusement.

"Sometimes it's hard to tell you two apart. Especially when you both have the same stubborn nature to figure out something." Her words only made me cringe. I wasn't like my sister. I was a psycho on souls, always high and looking for trouble.

"5132?"

"Hmm." I distractedly answered.

"Dear, you alright?" Hannah asked again, her hands grabbing onto my shoulder in concern.

"Yeah, of course. We will find her without opening the gate. We have to." In truth, I was tired as fuck. Even if I didn't want to admit it, staying far away from Mikhail had its own brand of punishment. But I couldn't ask for more favors. Not when I saw what the gate of hell opening did to him.

"You look tired. Do you need...?"

"What?"

"You know...Soul?"

The way she said it...Was that the reason Hannah always looked so guarded with me? Like I'd just jump on her if she pissed me off? She must have seen the look on my face as she quickly apologized.

"I didn't mean it like that way! We need you stronger now. I thought it's best to ask rather than you-" Hannah paused, looking away. "I didn't have the best interaction with a Reaper, you know. I don't want you to turn into your ma. But if you stop taking at least some energy, it's going to blow up-"

"It's OK!" I was quick to assure her. The stories I heard from everyone only propelled me to become like anyone rather than that bitch. "I have it under control. I took some souls from the older members of your coven. The ones already dying so I don't go after the humans. It's kind of a routine I made up not to piss off your other members in the coven. I think even they agree."

"That's not why she is worried." Lorette's voice made me jump. Where the hell she even came from? She sounded irritated as she waved her fingers back and forth between me and Hannah. "She is worried because of a new threat. And what do I know? The threat came as soon as you were welcomed in the coven."

Whereat times Lorette didn't exactly like me but she wasn't out to get me either. So if Lorette thought there was a threat...

"What's this about?" I asked Hannah, the pressure starting to get to me.

"I-I...your ma took my soul once. When she was sent to hell every person's soul they took was returned. The humans were worst, gal, lost to find where they left their life. I was a clan leader but still, when I returned, something in me changed. The truth is...I became a Volkios because I killed the previous one in the middle of a panic attack."

The shock made me almost speechless.

"What happened?"

"I woke up with too much pain en loss. I think it's the guilt that I couldn't save Emeline, my only student was who made me lose it. I went back home, found your sister's husband asking for my help. When I couldn't help him, he kicked me out of my own town." Hannah's gaze turned cold. "I had a lead that dit coven took witches that needed help or didn't have anyone. I came here to ask for help only to lose control once my position was challenged. I am sorry, I shouldn't have said that much."

"No, no!" I was curious to know. "What does the threat has to do with this story?"

"Some of the members still don't trust me to lead dit coven. And once you were welcomed, someone...some people from our coven started getting possessed by evil spirits. They were talking in gibberish. Most of the time they were asking for some Seeker. It's not like I could cure them, one by one everyone dropped dead."

Seeker?

The feeling of cold foreboding made me shiver.

"What...what Seeker?"

"Huh?" Hannah looked back only now realizing the tight grip I had. "Oh...Legend has that when a witch en demon mate, that's when a Seeker is born. Their offspring becomes a Reaper hunter. They were born solely to kill your species. It's like a poison to your kind. You will want to kill them en they'll want to do the same. Some clans en bloodlines follow the spirit magic. Those who are in favor of a Seeker want to make sure there's no Reaper left alive. The clan I was born in en the others follows traditional magic. Where we don't particularly like you, we wouldn't want you dead either."

Fuck.

Mikhail was a Seeker. He warned me, he warned me many times but I never listened.

"Dear...what happened?" Hannah asked with a frown when she didn't find any reaction from me.

"Seekers..." I could feel my breath hitch as I said the words. Was anything even real between us? All those talks about figuring me out? Giving me time? "Do they know what they are or what their purpose in life is?"

"Um, I don't know much Seekers to know about but in the last few centuries, there were some Seekers who learned to live like normal people. But it is in their instinct to kill one when they see one."

He told me he'd fix me.

And, I practically handed him everything.