Four Days Ago

"What do you mean she's not there anymore?" I asked Mario, not giving notice to the fact that Xavier was in the passenger seat looking at me suspiciously.

'What's going on' he mouthed. I ignored his question, waiting for Mario's reply as the sound of him typing away on the computer sounded through the line. His only job these past few days was to keep an eye on Queen. That's all. I took him away from guarding my financials from business associates I didn't trust, to watching her. That alone should've told him how fucking serious I was about this.

"Well Boss," he started. "My daughter had a parent conference this morning and I had to leave my post. I couldn't have been gone for more than twenty minutes."

I rubbed my temples and let out a frustrated breath. "Enlighten me, Mario. How is your daughter doing in Kindergarten?"

"Her teachers say she's doing amazing-"

"Great. So you are about to lose your job because you wanted to check in on how well your daughter makes macaroni necklaces and finger paintings, is that correct?"

"Sir-"

"For the amount of money I pay you, you could buy the whole damn school and become the principal if you'd like, Mario. All I ask is you do the job I hired you to do."

"I know you wouldn't understand, sir," he sighed, "but I had to be there. If you ever have kids you'll-"

"It's almost...eight, Mario." I glanced at my watch. "If she left this morning, that means you've wasted hours with no news of her whereabouts whatsoever. Who knows where she could be?! There are vampires all over that city."

"I know, boss. I've spent hours searching. I promise I will find her."

"I don't need you to promise me. I need you to do it," I ordered. "You have until midnight to call me back with a location. If she's not found, you will disappear. If she is found and harmed, any wounds on her will become wounds of your own. Understood?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Be sure to tell your daughter that I received her pasta googly-eyed creation and it is hanging in my office as she requested. I will send her one back as soon as I get the free time."

"I find it terrifying how you can threaten my life and in the same breath speak about sending my daughter a pasta portrait." He laughed.

"It's a talent." I hung up the phone and dropped it into the cup holder before shaking my head. I didn't consider him a friend but he had been a close acquaintance of mine for the past few years. I didn't want to kill him, but it was the principle. For both of our sakes, he needed to find her.

"What did he do for you to threaten him, Syn?" Xavier sighed.

"Nothing." I shook my head, starting the car and pulling back into traffic.

"Fuck that," he grumbled. "You've been acting so weird these past few days. I tell you everything-"

"I don't ask you to."

He gasped loudly and practically jumped out of his seat to face me. "You're a fucking liar!" I glanced at him and rolled my eyes. "Syn, you ask me about what I'm doing a fucking hundred times a day!"

"I do not."

"You do so," he mocked. "'Xavier, what are you doing?', 'Xavier, what are you going to eat tonight?', 'Xavier, what are you watching? Who was that on the phone? Why are you laughing? What are you thinking about? W-'"

"Only out of pure boredom. I can guarantee you that."

"You must be bored 24/7."

"Possibly."

"Bullshit." He scoffed. "You ask and I tell you- excitedly, might I add...I tell you everything excitedly because as your best friend, these are things I don't mind telling you about," he said. "It's a known fact that throughout our friendship, I have always been the more...forthright one."

"Is that a nicer way to say more talkative?"

"Syn, tell me what the hell is going on or so help me Satan I-"

"You'll what?" I raised a brow. He knew more than anyone I didn't take kindly to threats. At all.

"I will never talk to you again."

"Don't threaten me with a good time, Xavier."

"Watch." He sat back into the seat and stared out the window. Dramatic ass. I rolled my eyes and focused on the road ahead of us. He reached out to turn the radio on and I slapped his hand away, making him glare at me.

"Tsk, unt unt." I shook my head. "You're not speaking so you'll have to listen to silence. Have a blast." He sucked his teeth and sat back so hard that my head snapped to his direction. "Break my seat and I will break your fingers." He shook his head and I scoffed. "That's what I thought."

We spent the next few minutes caught up in the heavy traffic that came with being in a city as convoluted as Juva. I was convinced that people that just wanted to show off their cars were filling the streets. Car accidents here were no longer even a spectacle. After one glance, we'd be on our way expecting to see another one in a few minutes.

I guess that shouldn't have been much of a surprise. When death was no longer a factor, people cared less about the state of injured drivers. It made sense.

As he promised, Xavier didn't speak to me at all. Not through our dinner with business partners or through the multiple questions I asked him in front of everyone. My patience was wearing thin when it came to him. Especially since he had information that I had no idea about- information that I was attempting to ask him about during his petty silent treatment. Long story short he spoke to everyone that needed to know about our plans-except me, nonetheless making the meeting successful...

But I couldn't shake the nagging annoyance in my chest as everyone left.

The private dining room emptied as Xavier gave everyone cheery goodbyes while I remained sitting and rapping the table with my fingers in boredom. I checked my phone multiple times for updates from Mario, yet there was nothing. It was well past eleven.

I sighed and glanced at Xavier who was walking back to the table. He began packing up papers that were scattered about and I waited for him to say anything. "You're being childish," I said to him. I was answered by his silence as I had been all night and I rolled my eyes. "What is the purpose of this, Xavier? I don't have time or patience for whatever tantrum or midlife crisis you're going through right now."

Silence.

I snapped my fingers. "Hello?!"

Silence again.

"Fucking hell, sit down!" I snapped. "Goddamn you're annoying." I ran a hand through my hair and he sat in the seat across me, a cocky smile painted across his punchable face. "I ordered Mario to keep an eye on Queen these past few days."

"Why?" He asked in confusion.

"I don't know," I muttered.

"I thought you said- no, I didn't think it. You said that you were completely over her and wanted nothing to do with her."

"That was the first day." I sighed. "After I found out everything...I was pissed. I wanted to kill her for a good eight hours."

"And then..."

"And then I remembered I was a fucking liar too," I admitted. "We are here to kill her parents- a fact that I forgot until after she left. I've been lying to her since the moment I met her, just as she did me. Sure, they may not be as bad as each other-"

"Right." He nodded. "Yours is worse."

"Well, no," I objected. "Hers was worse. My lie is a lie of omission about her parents- who suck by the way. Her lie was to me. Every single action, conversation, and the moment we had together was being documented...I forgive her, but hers was definitely worse."

"No..." he drawled out. "Hers may have started horribly, but you still are actively participating in the mission to kill her parents. Queen isn't still actively writing about you..."

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody told you?"

"What?"

"She quit her job, Syn."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Apparently she started catching feelings for you a while ago and quit," he grimaced. I froze at his revelation and he nudged my shoulder. "That makes you worse...buddy."

"By a while ago you mean a few days ago when I found out, right?"

"Nope." He laughed. "If I'm correct, it was the day that you told Sebastian to take her out of the palace."

"That was...what? Three weeks after we met...?"

"Approximately," he said with a smile. "She lied for three weeks and you've been lying for what? Almost two months now?"

She quit. Was that was she was trying to explain to me in the treehouse? Fucking dumbass, I mentally cursed myself. She quit her job...for me. And I said the worst things to her... "Fuck!" I rubbed my temples. "And nobody wanted to tell me this shit?!"

"We thought you knew and were being an asshole?"

"Why would you ever think that?"

"Do you know yourself?" I stood up from the table and grabbed my phone from my pocket. It was 11:37 and there was still no word from Mario. I had to do this myself. Hopefully when I saw her she'd forgive me for being such an idiot. "Where are you going?"

"Mario has being keeping an eye on her while she stayed at this hotel. She left his morning and he can't find her- like, she went of the grid or some shit. I need to go find her." I headed towards the door and he stepped in front of me.

"Pause, turbo," he said. "What are you going to do if you see her?"

"What?" I scoffed and tried to walk past him- I didn't have time for this. But he saw my movement and blocked me once again.

"Come on," he said. "What will you do?"

"Apologize," I grumbled.

"For what?"

"Everything."

"Okay." He nodded. "You're going to apologize today and continue lying to her about our mission, right? You do realize we are planning to kill the people who raised her, correct? They may be shit, but they're her parents."

"Ugh, do you think she'd care that much?"

"Seriously?" He mumbled, tilting his head. "You'd be pissed if someone were to kill your parents, wouldn't you?"

"Ehh-"

"I don't know why I asked." He shook his head. "Queen has a heart, Syn. She's human and-"

"Supposedly," I whispered.

"What?"

"Well, remember the black magic spell my father keeps locked up in Hell?" I asked. "The one he used for Lilith and made us swear to never lay eyes on or use..."

"I remember."

"I used it."

"Syn!" He snapped, his eyes bulging. "For what?"

"For Queen."

"Are you stupid?! If anything, you know that spell should never be used where love is concerned. You saw what happened to your father."

"Well, love is not concerned here...so it can't hurt me."

"Syn, your powers can be stolen if-"

"I can control it, Xavier. My father was in love so he couldn't control Lilith's reckless use of it," I said. "I am not, therefore I remain unaffected."

"Are you so sure?"

"About?"

"Your not loving her," he said. "Are you sure about it?"

"Of course," I replied. "You know that's not possible- stop changing the subject. Using the spell on Queen wasn't intended for anything like that. I needed to test my suspicions."

"What suspicions?"

"About what she is, Xavier," I said. "I don't like humans. I never have. They're whiny voices and illogical fear of nothing...I've never felt the need or want to associate myself with them."

"Until her..."

"Or so I thought in the beginning," I said. "For a while I thought maybe she was the exception, but I was wrong. There was something else drawing me to her- it's a feeling that I can't explain..."

"What type of feeling?"

"It's dark," I explained. "I am drowning in it whenever she's near me, and I am addicted to it. That feeling...her aura, her taste-"

"You tasted her?!"

"Her blood," I clarified.

"That's what I meant," he said. "What did you think I was...eww! Ew! I don't want to think about that shit!"

"Nobody told you to," I said flatly. "In fact, I'd rather you not think about me eating my girl out."

"I am going to throw up."

"Oh please." I waved my hand. "I didn't act like this when you were talking about butt sex."

"Syn!" He yelled, placing a hand over my mouth as he glanced at the door. "Lower your fucking voice. Don't make it seem like I just volunteer that information. You asked about my night with Cas and Cleo." He removed his hand and rolled his eyes.

"Sure," I agreed. "But I don't recall asking about the ins and outs of- wait...that's all, the ins and outs."

"You're a fucking idiot," he whispered as he poked my chest. "What I tell you in my room stays in my damn room."

"Right." I nodded, taking a deep breath. "What happens in your back-sorry, in your bedroom...stays there."

"I fucking hate you." He laughed. "Finish telling me about Queen so we can find her."

I told him everything I knew; about how the necklace seemed to cause her no irritation as it would have on human skin and about her dream I had found myself in.

"First of all, that's a complete invasion of privacy," he said. "Secondly, wouldn't the invulnerability to black magic like that make her-"

"An Underwolder, yes."

"That makes no sense."

"I'm just as lost as you." I sighed.

"Do you think she knows?"

"No, I don't believe so."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"Now why the fuck would I do that?"

"Syn, you were mad at her secret yet yours are just piling up," he said. "Her parents, now this...she'll leave you for good when she finds out." I knew he was right, but I didn't like the fact that he said it. It did something to my chest that I hated. "Besides, shouldn't we do research to figure out what she is? For all we know she could be dangerous. You want her now, but how do you know you will after we find out?"

"I'll still want her."

"But how do you know?" He urged, looking directly into my eyes. How did I know? My brows furrowed as I tried to find an answer to his question, and a smile spread across his lips. "Because you love her."

"Enough of that, Xavier. Seriously." I threatened. "I know because I just know, okay? Let us leave it at that." I lifted my phone to look at it once again for any sort of update from Mario. The light from my phone made my head spin for a few moments before I blinked it away and looked at the notification from him. He cut it close, but he was on time.

"Mario just sent me her-" A pain in my head made me wince and Xavier looked at me with worried eyes. I steadied myself in my spot when suddenly a cough came from me. I covered my mouth as it was followed by another one and Xavier pat my back. I cleared my throat, pushing him away before rubbing my neck. "He sent me where she is."

"Your nose is bleeding," he said.

"What?" I felt a liquid dripping out of my nose and lifted my finger to it. When I saw the dark red color, I looked at it in confusion. I'd never had a nosebleed before- at least not like this. Usually they were from fights. "I don't know wh-"

"Syn, try making a portal," he instructed, helping me to a nearby wall. I reached my hand out towards it, chanting the spell and waiting for the black smog that came with my magic...but nothing came. I tried again and when it didn't work, Xavier burst into laughter.

"My name is Syn SinClaire and I will remain unaffected unlike my father who used the same spell and lost everything because I am invulnerable to love," he mocked with a squeaky voice as I leaned against the wall and held tissues against my nose.

"She wouldn't do that.." I breathed out.

"I know," Xavier said. "Something is wrong."

"I need to go to her," I said.

"I'll go with you."

"Alone. I need to do it alone. We don't know how dangerous-"

"Oh fuck that," he said. "You can barely stand on your own."

"We need to...drive," I groaned as I lifted my phone. "This is the address."

He took my phone and grabbed the keys from the table with a hearty laugh. "This is amazing!"

"How the fuck is this amazing?"

"Because this means that you, my friend, are not completely soulless and unfeeling like we thought you were," he said, obviously referring to my affected state that surprised the both of us. But then again...

...how the fuck is that amazing?