Chapter 44
-Quan Leung-
When Candice had left my house, I began chuckling. Actually, it sounded like a mixture of chuckles and sobs as I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose.
"That woman is too smart and sneaky for her own good," I said, moving to put my shopping away in places that I would remember where everything was. "She's doing this so that we can work on whatever's happening without work getting in the way."
"She's tarnishing my reputation," Ruarc complained. "It was already terrible as it was."
"If it's any consolation, Ruarc." Kenji put a hand on Ruarc's arm. "We all knew about your past, you're very well-known at the station."
"He is?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. "Since when?"
"Since we paid attention in meetings," Jade answered as she began helping me put things away, somehow knowing where everything goes. "You just pay attention to what you need to know."
"And you didn't want to know about me?" Ruarc asked with a teasing smile, but I could tell that he was still feeling very irritated, I didn't need the soulmate bond to know that. "But what was she saying about me?"
"Nothing terrible," Kenji answered far too quickly. "But we were kept up to date with your crimes, making sure that you didn't go too far with anything."
"Of course, Candice knew everything about that." Ruarc moved into the living room and came back a few minutes later, holding Rosie in his arms. She was making noise of protest, but Ruarc had treated her like a safety blanket ever since he took her in. I found it adorable, but Clover was a little jealous.
"I'm also curious to know what going too far would be," I raised a hand and leaned against the counter, putting the kettle on. "From what I've seen, there were fights and murders and countless other crimes that you guys committed."
"That's an excellent question," Ruarc commented, his eyes moving to Jade and Kenji. "Once again, you're the police. Why on earth were you okay with us doing things like that?"
"That's what Candice said, isn't it?" Kenji asked as he sat on the small stool in the corner of the kitchen. "She wants us to get our hands bloody, but with the right blood."
I sighed and rolled my eyes for about the twentieth time that day. "She thinks you were doing your job when you were killing people. It makes sense given the fact she's in charge of vampires."
Ruarc hummed in thought. "So, do you think she's the one who was giving Harlen the orders?" He mused as he swayed back and forth, stroking Rosie like some sort of movie villain.
Jade switched places with me at the kettle. "You think that the head of police was also in charge of creating and organising one of the most famous supernatural gangs to ever exist?" Jade asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Why not? It'd be a great cover for her," Kenji commented, resting his head against the corner of the counter. "Nobody would expect her to be involved."
"Maybe she's the reason Harlen turned himself in?" I questioned, picking up two of the cups of tea and moving into the living room. I could tell which one mine was, but I just put the other one on the table, for the owner to claim. "It would be pretty difficult for him to deny her. And his girlfriend seemed pretty shocked, didn't she?" I turned in Ruarc's direction.
"She did," Rua c agreed. "But what's her goal if she was in charge of a large supernatural gang? Do you think she has ulterior motives?"
"Maybe she just wants power," Kenji suggested. "Most vampires do, and I really can't think of what else she could gain by being in charge of something like that."
"She's about as rich as you could get without being royalty," Jade commented in agreement. "Actually, I really wouldn't be surprised if she was somehow royal."
I zoned out of the conversation at that point as I was dragged away. I wasn't sure if Ruarc was dragged with me at first, because I was back with Cappi. They were standing in the middle of a tent, surrounded by the fire-creatures. They were just facing forward with a very blank expression, tapping their foot repetitively on the ground, as though waiting for something.
After a few moments of silence, I figured that they didn't actually want me to be there. I left the tent, feeling a churning in my stomach as I walked through the material. We hadn't moved. The cages were still beside the lake and the tents were still in their exact same places. The only difference was the fact my father was nowhere to be seen. Chances are, he was in another tent somewhere.
But that was when I heard the screams.
The people in the cages flinched, but that's all they did. The screams were coming from another tent, a tent which I was hesitant to enter. But I did. I had to know what was happening to cause those screams of anguish.
I entered the dark tent, which was illuminated by only a few candles, only to wish I hadn't. There was a woman in the middle of the room, a woman I didn't outright recognise, but I felt as though I'd been in her presence before. She had long red hair and pale skin. Her eyes were scrunched up with the pain that she was experiencing, and shrill sounds left her throat, alongside some deep growls.
She was clearly a werewolf. I wondered why she hadn't even attempted to shift yet, but maybe she didn't get the chance to concentrate on the transformation with this pain she was experiencing. I didn't know what my father was doing to her, but she was in agony.
I moved closer to her, just as she opened her eyes. Her eyes were dark, and it was difficult to tell the colour in the lighting, but I could've sworn that they were brown with a mixture of other colours within them, hazel eyes like no other eyes I'd seen. But again, I wasn't sure if that was just because of the light reflecting in her eyes or any effects of the magic being submitted to her.
But the strangest thing about this situation was the fact that she seemed to see me. If she wasn't in pain and probably finding it difficult to speak, I would've been in a world of trouble.
"C-Canta?" she whispered, staring straight at me. My heart dropped at the sound of my mother's name. The feeling turned to one of nausea and I was suddenly back in my house, rushing to the bathroom.
Of course, Ruarc had followed me there and was holding my hair as soon as I leaned over the toilet. I didn't know why I had such a serious reaction when I came to seeing her, but it shook me to my core. I knew who that woman was, and it terrified me.
That werewolf was my mother's soulmate.
I believed my mother to be dead for years, it was a shock to hear that she was alive, but I knew that she cared enough for me to give me a lifelong partner and guaranteed love. But she was currently separated from hers and it was causing her pain. I didn't even need to be around her to know that I'd seen her soulmate's pain and knew that my mother would be faring much worse.
"Quan, what happened?" Ruarc whispered to me after I sat back up straight, my knuckles white from holding onto the toilet seat. I hadn't realised that I hadn't said anything up until now. I was barely able to make sense of my thoughts and become grounded. I was still hearing the woman's terrified screams.
"Cappi happened," I groaned out. "This is getting too much." I flinched backwards as a cloth rubbed at my face gently, wiping away any sick which might still be there. I was brought to my feet and over to my sink.
"What did you see?" Ruarc asked in the same quiet voice as I heard a toothpaste cap being opened.
"What's going on?" Jade interrupted. "What do we not know?" She put her hand on my shoulder, and I wasn't feeling as sick anymore.
"A lot," I answered moodily before beginning to brush my teeth, moving to sit on the toilet lid as I thought about what happened.
"Basically, Cappi is infiltrating Chang's side," Ruarc explained. "They're teleporting our consciousness to where they are, so we can be with them in real time. We know that they're keeping soulmates locked up and separated from each other."
Kenji growled and Jade gasped. I could feel the blood leaving my face. I knew this information already, but hearing it aloud made my skin crawl once again.
The four of us were silent as I brushed my teeth, which was probably more irritating than the three of them talking, because it left me with time to think about what I saw.
"They have my mother's soulmate," I informed, my voice low. "She knew that I was there, she could sense me."
"What?" Ruarc immediately asked. "Were you found by your father? What happened?"
I shook my head. "No, no." I began walking out of my bathroom and into my living room again. "She said my mother's name."
"Oh, thank goodness," Ruarc said and gave a sigh of relief. "I know that isn't the best reaction I could give, but I'm just glad that you weren't caught."
"But what does this mean for your mother?" Jade asked, sitting down on the arm of the chair I was sitting in. I was very surprised I hadn't come across any spilt tea. I remembered holding my cup when I'd been taken by Cappi. I'd thought that I'd dropped it when I ran to the bathroom. But there was no sign of spilt tea.
"My mother is a love witch," I began. "She feels in very extreme emotions. She'll be enraged and distraught being far from her soulmate." I sighed shakily. "It will either make her into a really powerful witch or it will destroy her. I'm sure she's in a world full of pain right now, especially if my father is torturing her soulmate."
The room was silent for a moment before Kenji cursed and began to pace. "Could you check in on your mother?" he asked me quietly. "If we know how her soulmate was taken, we might get an upper hand."
I sighed and nodded my head. "I'll try." I didn't want to, because I didn't want to witness my mother in such a state. But I had to. She was my mother, and I wasn't going to abandon her.
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