Kai had finally finished with Hina and safely dropped her home. He rushed out of her building complex like an animal set free, he could see traces of the VSF guards that were posted to keep watch on Hina in his stead.
Hina watched him run for his life through her home buzzer monitor and couldn't help but feel disappointment. She knew he was off to see Camilla, but she thought that maybe, just maybe she was able to make her way into his heart. Even if it was only a spec.
*beeep beeep*
Hina stood still as she waited for her mother to answer her call.
[Hina, my baby, how are you? We've managed to find flights for tomorrow, we will be with you soon.] Her mother spoke.
'Mum, how do I find my way back?' Hina sounded firm.
The silence on the phone seemed to drag on.
'I want to go back... to the enchanted forest.' Hina spoke confidently, she knew now that what she experienced, whatever it was she felt back at the research facility, there was no way she could go on with her life as normal.
[Looks like my baby's made her decision, you'll be the first in generations. There's a sealed box in the family vault, you'll find your answer there.]
'Thanks Mum... love you.' Hina answered softly
[We love you too, don't forget that.]
Hina ended the phone call and ran to her parents' study. The family had a small vault at home for personal belongings, passports, emergency cash and the like. She didn't remember ever seeing a sealed box. Hina approached the painting behind her parents' desk, it was a canvas of a beautiful forest with shimmering spots scattered here and there. She was about to move the painting to reveal the safe but paused. The canvas looked different to her this time; she leaned in examining the colours further.
The shimmering blobs of paint looked almost alive, like they were moving on their own. Hina shook her head figuring she must have been focusing her eyes too much. She moved the painting on the desk and revealed the vault her mother was referring to. The lock was biometric and would only open with the family fingerprints registered. Hina laid her hand on the lock, and the sounds of the safe clicking to unlock broke the silence in the room.
Hina opened the door to find all sorts of documents piled up, she shuffled through them to find any sort of box but couldn't find anything of the sort. She kept looking till she reached the bottom of the safe. However, as she brushed her hand over the velvet fabric, there was an odd break between the stitching.
Hina removed everything out of the vault and explored the fabric further, as she pushed down on the bottom of the safe another click sounded, and the bottom opened to reveal another hidden layer.
In there was a sealed decorative case, lined with gold embellishments and embroidery. Hina opened it not sure what she was expecting. However, she certainly didn't expect to see a plain piece of paper.
'What the?' Hina turned it over thinking maybe there was something hidden on the back, but to no avail. She slumped on the desk chair, the paper still in hand. Seeing the beautifully crafted case she thought it was something related to her fairy ancestry. The sudden anti-climactic outcome drained her.
She sat staring at the painting in front of her on the desk, letting herself get lost in the glow of the paint. Hina scooted her chair closer as the glow seemed oddly familiar; as her eyes focused on the glow, her hand subconsciously went to touch them.
Once contact had been made the entire painting began to shimmer, the same glow that radiated from her at the research facility was now traveling around her body.
This wasn't paint, it was pixie dust.
Hina felt herself elevate off the ground as the pixie dust lifted her up. The plain paper in her hand began to dissolve into pixie dust. It swirled and swirled till the dust made it's way to her head, crashing down inside of her brain.
Flashes of directions, and images of places she had never been to, were being embedded into her brain. The directions towards her home- the enchanted forest occupied her memory as though she had grown up there.
The sight that marked the way.
The path hidden in plain sight.
The dust trail home.
Hina felt purpose.
She finally had a goal, something or in this case somewhere to go. She didn't know what she wanted out of it, simply that the feeling of releasing pixie dust was one she wanted to experience again.
______________________________________
Kai continued towards Camilla's home on his bike, but as he called her no one answered, and he began to worry. She was no longer replying to his texts or calls, and that wasn't like her. His instincts were telling him something was off.
Kai ditched his bike and activated his code; the runes overlapped his body under his clothes as he ran up the building next to him. He began travelling over buildings, through the trees, using the streetlights as stepping stools. Nothing stood in his way.
Not fast enough! Kai thought to himself, he was trying to remember the feeling when he was exposed to Zeleti's pheromones. The runes he buried in his memory came back to him vividly, and slowly his code began to morph on his body into a new programme.
First his legs, he became faster, the ground underneath his feet shook as stepped off the roof tops.
Second his arms, his grip strengthened, the streetlight bent as swung off.
Thirdly his vision, the runes extended over his eyes. This was new! His sight was enhanced, he could see further and clearer. Perhaps even if there was no light, he may be able to see clearly.
Almost! There was more to it. Kai was close was but the feeling he was chasing had more depth. However, his thoughts were abruptly silenced as he saw the trail of VSF agents lying unconscious.
Kai's speed erupted cracking the ground underneath him. However, His eyes could see it all, before his body could even reach.
Kai stood frozen as he saw the scene before him in front of Camilla's apartment. He wasn't sure what to focus on, the unconscious agents, the dead agents, the pools of blood scattered, or the fact that Zeleti stood in front of Camilla's open door.
His confusion was clear but at that moment, his rage was louder when he saw a crying Camilla peer from behind the door, crawling out her home.
'All we need is your blood!' Iggi cackled away as Zeleti leaped into the distance.
Kai leapt after them, his new strength meant that he wasn't falling behind too much. However, he saw them come to an abrupt stop and dashed forward to catch up.
'Please do stay still so I don't drop you, you're far too precious for that.' Zeleti spoke as Camilla wriggled around. Unintentionally his hand brushed over Camilla's skin, in response a large ominous aura broke out from Camilla and attacked Zeleti.
Zeleti came to a halt and dropped Camilla as he used his devour aura to counter. This was Cassius' aura, he had left some on Camilla to always be able to track her, but also to protect her against any murderous intent. Since Zeleti did in fact mean no harm to Camilla, the aura only activated once he had made contact with her.
Zeleti fell in pain from absorbing Cassius' aura, the decay trait was one that would take effect even if absorbed. Zeleti was now focused on healing himself fast enough to counter the decay.
'This isn't good, this isn't good.' Iggi began to panic.
'Hush, we need to absorb the rest of that aura, else whoever it belongs to will find us before we can extract her blood.' Zeleti began explaining to himself.
'We can heal fast; we are strong enough.' Iggi encouraged Zeleti.
Camilla witnessed the scene; he looked like a deranged mental patient to her. She stood up as he approached her. Camilla flinched once Zeleti threw out his aura against her as she knew she didn't have anything left in her to block. She opened her eyes to find the dark aura protecting her once more, but it was slowly being drained into Zeleti's own.
The agony was evident on Zeleti's face as he fell to the floor, coughing out black blood. 'Not another step little agent.' Zeleti pointed past Camilla as he regained his composure.
Camilla spun round to see Kai; his runes glowed in a way she had never seen before. Usually whenever Kai came to her aid, Camilla felt reassured since he was the closest thing she had to family. No, he was her family. Although now, in front of a vampire, and one strong enough to harm someone Cassius had entrusted for protection. She was afraid. She was afraid for what could happen to him, as she knew Kai wouldn't stop until she was safe.
However, Kai knew. He knew exactly who Zeleti was and how strong he was. Being a VSF agent, he knew he stood no chance against him, but he wasn't just going to leave Camilla to be abducted.
'You have two options, little agent.' Zeleti stood up facing Kai. He didn't want to waste any more time. After experiencing the aura personally, he needed to finish his experiment before the owner showed up. 'Decide. You can either accompany miss anomaly here with us as a VSF agent, or…'
Zeleti's eyes flipped a cracked red and Iggi took over. 'You can die!' Iggi giggled through his long fangs.