"Is this Blair Treton?" A soft voice said on the phone, around six o'clock in the morning when he answered the phone, ready to ream out whoever decided to call at this ungodly hour.

"Yeah." He replied, his tone clipped.

"I am sorry to call you at this hour, Sir, but this is Angela, the nurses aide from the Milborough Senior Home."

Something in her tone immediately made anything nasty that he was going to say completely die at the edge of his tongue. The feeling of dread washed over him as he asked what was going on.

Did his grandmother fall?

Was there an accident?

He was prepared for any other answer except for the one where they had informed him that his sweet, caring, and loving grandmother had passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Numb. That was the only word that Blair could think of as he hung up the phone. Shocked, he supposed, would be another one.

He breathed heavily as he collapsed into one of the hand made chairs that his grandfather had made him right before he passed years ago, feeling all rational thoughts fleeing from him, as if scared of something.

Ethel Treton had been nicknamed Milborough's mother since she was a first time one herself, it didn't matter how tired or even sick she was, she'd always, always, find time to help out her community. She always had a smile on her face and did everything she could to for the well-being of every single person she came in contact with.

She had a heart filled with gold.

So when Blair gotten a call from the funeral home early in the morning he had thought that it was some sort of cruel prank that someone was playing, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

Fuck, how the hell was he supposed to respond?

Was this a dream - a nightmare?

For an eighty-five year old woman, she was in decent health. Ethel was still quite the active gal she had been fifty years ago as well. Nothing had changed except for maybe the fact that she had silver hair. The news had hit him like a brick wall had toppled over him.

At first, he didn't feel anything, but then it hit, and the grief swallowed him like he had fallen into the depths of a black hole, unable to get out of it. Blair could feel his heart growing heavy, almost as if it was turning into stone. It was uncomfortable.

His mind swam.

His breathing coming out in ragged, shallow breaths.

This wasn't happening.

This couldn't be happening.

Blair's eyes opened up and his gaze made contact with Izzie when she laid her head upon his thigh, glancing up at him with those beautiful dark brown eyes of hers, as if to say that she was there for him.

A lump in his throat formed and Blair painfully swallowed it, taking a shaky hand and rubbing it gently on her head. Her tail reminding him of a broom as it swishes from side to side.

Blair licks his lips and gave her a small smile, tears blurring his vision. He take in a shaky breath, and it was as if that was all it took to break the camels back as that breath turned into a sob.

Memories of his grandmother raced through his mind, every single one where he was smiling and laughing in his childhood was always with her. It made his heart feel as though it was about to shatter.

He slipped from the chair, careful as not to step on or hurt Izzie in any way, turning back into that small child that would cuddle up to his grandmother's dog whenever he was sick, and cried into her fur, forever grateful for living alone.

He hated showing emotion.

He hated being weak.

He hated that the guard that he had built up over the years was breaking apart.

Blair wasn't entirely sure on how long he had stayed there, and at some point he had laid down onto the hardwood floor, curled up into a foetal position, and was internally grateful for the fact that Izzie had remained by his side, covering his face in kisses, as if she was sensing the pain that he was going through and knew how much, in that moment, he needed her more than she ever thought possible. And she seemed more than happy to oblige her human companion in any small comfort that she could give.

After awhile he had calmed down a bit. Blair's head ached terribly, and he had no doubt in his mind that his eyes were red and puffy, and that his now dried tears that had cascaded down his face freely was dried, staining his cheeks.

He sighed weakly, eventually manoeuvring himself into a sitting position, his legs crossed. Blair sat there, staring off into the distance, attempting to regain control of his emotions.

It took awhile but finally, finally, he was able to and once getting his thoughts in order, mind clearing, did Blair stand, his jaw set. Once and for all he was going to rid the fucking town of the turmoil that the Shaman and his henchmen had, all but thrown, at the townspeople for centuries. It was about damn time that they were put into place.

Enough was enough.

- - -

Sat in his car, glaring daggers at the two large trees that just screamed where the bones of the Shaman was located, and Blair held onto the handle of the shovel as tight as he could stand it before turning off and exiting the vehicle.

In all of the photos that he had seen when he was doing his research, there were always these two trees. These two exact trees.

Blair was seeing red as he began to dig the area in between them with a vengeance, throwing the frozen dirt to the side, grabbing the pick that he had in the trunk of his car and broke away at the harder bits, used the shovel to remove it, and continued alternating.

A bit of time had passed, a nice thin sheen of sweat had broke out across his face when his phone began ringing.

Taking a deep breath, allowing the shovel to fall to the ground with a soft thud, fishing his phone out, flipped it open, and placing it up by his ear. "Hello?"

"Blair?" An older, and frantic female voice asked; Elisa's mother. "I-I'm sorry to call but...but...it's Jaden."

He frowned, heart skipping a beat. "Is there something wrong?"

"Jaden didn't arrive at school...and then...then...he didn't arrive back here!" She was beginning to hyperventilate, Blair could tell. "I...I already called the police, they've a...a...a search party going...I just. Oh God. I ca-can't."

"Okay. It's going to be okay." Blair spoke, trying to assure the older woman that everything was going to be alright, but even he, knew that was a lie and he wanted to kick himself for trying to be positive in this sort of situation, knowing what had happened to so many people within the past two months.

It left him extremely nauseated and pissed off.

His free hand clenched, his short nails digging into the palms of his hand. After a few moments, Blair was able to somewhat calm her down, he informed her that he'd be joining in on the search.

Elisa was right, Blair realised, he was Jaden's Godfather and he would be damn sure that he would be the one to find him. And joining the search party is exactly what he did.

- - -

Blair didn't understand how exactly he knew which way to go, or why, but there was just something about where he was that just told him that the direction in which he was going was going to lead him to where Jaden was.

And something else told him that he would also be led to something a little more...dangerous.

It was becoming darker outside, and he was beginning to lose feeling in his fingertips and toes as he had been out in the elements since nearly seven that morning and it was nearing dinnertime.

The setting sun casted sinister shadows around the small clearing that he had found himself in, and visibility was slowly decreasing and Blair knew that the window in finding Jaden would be limited and the dangers of running into The Shadow Men increased also. There wasn't any way, whatsoever, that Blair could abandon this mission of his with a clear conscience.

Jaden was now his responsibility, and he was going to make sure that Jaden made it home safe and sound.

Blair gasped out, losing grip of his flashlight as he slipped on a root that was peeking out from the ground, unable to catch his footing as he felt himself falling...falling...falling.

Down at least ten feet through a small hole did Blair travel before he landed painfully on his back, colours exploded before his eyes and he groaned. Pain laced through his left side, his right arm, and three fingers. As gentle as possible, he felt, cursing as he realised that they were, indeed, broken.

Exactly what he fucking needed right then and there.

His movements were slow and rigid as Blair attempted to stand, gritting his teeth as he put weight on his right foot, pain shot up his ankle, almost causing him to fall, but instead, he felt the cool wall behind him and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

With his uninjured fingers he dug into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out his red headlamp. Instead of messing around for however long it'd take him to put it over his head, Blair turned it on and shone the light around him.

Three tunnels, he saw, where they led, he wasn't sure, but he hobbled along the length of the one that was closest to him, his laboured breathing loud, even to his ears as he finally made it through. Blair, once again, lost his footing, and fell harshly to the ground, but at least this time, it was only a foot.

His head smashed against where he had been standing, ripping a groan from his throat, something warm and wet ran down the side of his neck and Blair frowned, reaching up and feeling a stinging sensation as he touched the spot, brought his hand back down, and shone the light on it.

Blood. He realised.

He dropped his hand, fighting to catch his breath as he fought against the growing darkness that wanted to claim his conscious state and he paused, hearing something shuffle somewhere in the area that he was in.

His blood ran cold.

Taking his headlamp, pressing and holding onto the button until the light turned to white light and shone it.

What it illuminated made his breath catch in his throat.

"Jaden?"

Jaden whimpered in response.

Blair immediately struggled to get to his feet, and as quickly as he was able to, made his way over to him, ignoring the immense pain that was coursing through his body as he inspected Jaden, who, right at that moment was tied up tightly by rope.

The young boys feet barely touched the ground, dangling a few feet from it, his body was limp, and from what Blair could see, the rope was cutting painfully into Jaden's wrists.

Blair felt the anger from before returning with a vengeance and it felt like he was being kicked right in the stomach as he took in the boys state. His clothes were dirty and torn.

Dirt was caked on the almost every inch of the boys skin, and bruises and scrapes were scattered across the skin here and there.

He looked like he had been there for weeks.

"Jaden." Blair called out again.

Jaden's eyes fluttered open, blinked, and then, he cried out, trying to fight the binds that held him in place, but upon realising who it was, began sobbing, calming down significantly.

"Bl-Blair..." He hiccuped, tears now staining his filthy cheeks. Blair watched as Jaden began to shake his head vigorously. "You...you got...gotta get out of here."

"What?" Blair whispered, frowning at Jaden's words. "I'm not leaving you."

With that said, he took out his pocket knife, vaguely wondering how nothing of personal value was broken, but what was, was broken.

Oh, how fantastic was that?

One hand was free, then the other. A foot, and then the other. Jaden dropped and collapsed to the ground, gasping as he frantically searched for Blair, and once he knew that he had felt his jeans, he clung onto him, repeating the words that he had spoken before.

"I can't leave you. Your grandmother is worried sick, Jaden."

"No. Blair. You have too..." He takes a deep breath, "You don't understand! This was all a decoy! You need to get out of here before The Shadow Men come and get you."

Blair stilled at his words.

"Blair, they want you."