Chapter 24.

"What's going on?"

Lacey asked as Hunt drew a seat for her at the dining table. She was still confused. She had been in the car watching Hunt's heated conversation with the older woman when he had come up to her and tapped at the window.

He asked her to come in for a moment, pleading that he would explain everything that was going on once they got inside.

The worst part was that the woman wouldn't stop looking at her. It was nerve racking. But she couldn't even ask the woman to stop, because she figured out it probably had something to do with Lila Hampshire.

At the dining table Hunt signalled a maid to help them get coffee and Camomile tea for the woman. Although Lacey cared little for coffee, she didn't decline.

She wanted to know what was going on. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she watched Hunt struggle with what he was going to say.

He looked like he was in a very uncomfortable position. Thankfully the woman quickly relieved him of the burden to begin.

"I am Cassandra Hampshire. Lila's mother."

She said as she stretched her hand and Lacey took it with surprise, a smile plastered on her face.

"Hello Mrs Hampshire. I'm Candy Holmes."

She replied feeling a bit strange about calling herself Candy. Even though it was the name she went by, it still somehow reminded her of Aidas Vladimir. Because he was the one who gave her the name.

"Candy, Mrs Hampshire was just sharing a few things with me. And I thought you'd at least like to hear it."

Hunt added grimly and Mrs Cassandra nodded.

"Did he tell you about my daughter? His ex girlfriend?"

The woman asked and Candy flinched slightly at her tone. She didn't think the woman liked her that much.

"Yes. He did. My first day at work he told me that I looked like her."

Mrs Cassandra Hampshire shook her head.

"The resemblance... It is quite shocking."

She admitted as she kept her eyes glued on every of Candy's move.

Lacey felt uncomfortable. Hunt sensed her discomfort and held her hand beneath the table, squeezing gently.

She felt much better as she took in a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry about your daughter..."

She said and Mrs Cassandra shrugged.

The maid came back in with two hot cups of coffee and a camomile tea.

There was another maid with a tray filled with small elegant bowls of sugar cubes, honey and a small jar of milk.

With the tense atmosphere, Lacey really wasn't up for coffee. But Mrs Cassandra Hampshire was the first to pick up her cup of camomile tea.

"Can you please tell me a little bit about your family?"

She asked nicely and Lacey felt trapped.

She had not even told Hunt much about her family. Only that the only family she had was her father.

"Well... I only have my father. I've never known or seen my mother."

She replied as Mrs Cassandra set her tea cup gently on the saucer.

"You have never met her? What happened?"

Candy shrugged.

"She left the minute I was born. I don't know why she did."

Hunt and Mrs Hampshire exchanged a long look that Lacey couldn't understand.

"What's going on? I don't really understand why I'm here."

She asked.

"Well, Mrs Hampshire is willing to share some things with you. After that day when my father saw you, he told her about you. And she has been trying to see you ever since."

"Why?"

"Well.. Haven't you always wondered why you look like my daughter?"

She retorted and Lacey shrugged.

Yes, she had and she had even been meaning to ask Hunt about it but she still didn't know why. If there was a possibility that they could be related, she still would never know because she had never met her mother.

"I've always wondered. I don't know... I thought it was purely coincidental?"

The woman chuckled.

"My dear... Don't be naive. There is no such thing as coincidences."

"You and Lila, you're sisters."

The woman added grimly and Lacey's jaw dropped.

"What?!!! How?!"

She stared at the woman with disbelief and then Hunt who already seemed to have known about it earlier.

"How is it possible? I don't understand..."

"A long time ago, My husband and I were having trouble with conceiving. Back then, his elder brother Richard was seeing a woman. We didn't really know much about her, they had met at a rave and they became inseparable. Shortly after she became pregnant and she ran away."

"We didn't hear anything about her. For months. No words. By then, Richard had taken his own life out of depression and frustration, that was how much he loved her. It crushed my husband. We tried to find her, her name was Cara but it seemed that it might have been a fake name."

"One rainy morning there was a frantic knock on our door and when we opened it we found a baby in a basket with a short letter."

Lacey felt sick to the stomach. How could her mother be so cruel?

"We knew it was her. The letter was short. She apologised and gave her condolences for Richard's death. And then she mentioned that the baby was his."

"That was all?"


"Yes. And that was twenty six years ago."

She added and Lacey raised her eyebrow.

"That means... Lila is two years older than me..."

Mrs Cassandra nodded.

"We never heard from her again. So we took her as our own. Gave her a name. Called her our daughter."

Lacey remembered her father's stories about her mother. He had told her her mother was named Monica. Monica Hutton. A name that had failed to pop up on all the city records.

Almost as if she didn't exist.

"Did you find anything about her? Did you try looking for her?"

Mrs Cassandra shook her head.

"We didn't. She had caused us so much pain... We didn't as much as mention her name in the house. Or to Lila."

Just like her father, Lacey thought as she remembered how worked up her father would get any time she tried to make him talk about her.

"Did she ever know?"

Lacey asked and Mrs Cassandra glanced at Hunt again.

"Yes. We told her about it when she turned sixteen. She seemed fine with it, until last year when she started asking some strange questions. That was when she ran away. We assumed she went looking for her mother... And then she turned up dead."

"Oh God...." Lacey murmured as she suddenly felt like she was suffocating.

"I need a minute."

She muttered under her breath as she ran out of the room.

Hunt prepared to go after her.

"Let her go. It's a lot to take in."

Mrs Cassandra whispered and Hunt sighed.

He settled back in his seat.

"She hasn't even heard the worst of it."

Hunt glared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if my guesses are correct. Their birth mother was fae. Although we told Lila about her history when she was sixteen and after she had made her first shift, she didn't care about her mother up until a year before her death. When she started noticing some strange things..."

"What strange things? She never told me anything."

Mrs Hampshire rolled her eyes.

"Of course she wouldn't. She was terrified. I didn't know much about her mother. But I knew she wasn't human. I was happy when Lila had the werewolf gene. I thought it meant she was normal. But I guess when she approached twenty five she started noticing some unusual changes."

"Twenty five..."

Hunt said as he tried to pin the age on a specific Supernatural.

Mrs Cassandra nodded.

"Yes. Twenty five. The age of the settling in the halfbreed Faes. The age where they finally come to full realisation of their powers and what they are."

"Wait..."

Hunt said impatiently as she looked around.

"Are you saying Lila and Candy are halfbreed Faes."

He whispered and Cassandra nodded.

"And I don't even want to explain to you how very rare that is. For their conception to be even possible, their mother must have been a very powerful Fae."

"Do you have any idea who she is?"

Cassandra shrugged.

"I don't know. I've not seen Faes in years. But Lila... She may have gotten close to the answer just before her death."

"Do you think this could have something to do with the murders?"

"I mean... From what my beta and I have gathered... The deaths... They're all linked. They were all founding families."

"Except my daughter's death was a year ago. So it doesn't add up does it?"

"No. It doesn't. It doesn't at all."

He mused.

Lacey walked in at that very moment. She looked much more better and she seemed to be feeling refreshed.

"Did I miss anything?"

She asked grimly as she rubbed at her eyes.

"No. Nothing at all. I'm afraid I have to be on my way."

Mrs Cassandra Hampshire said as she stood up picking her purse.

Both Hunt and Lacey looked too distraught to even properly escort her out of the house or say a goodbye.

Lacey turned to Hunt and he smiled at her.

She massaged her temple slowly, she wanted to be back in her bed, more than anything else. She didn't think she would be able to handle another revelation for the not few days.

"Can we postpone the trip? I just want to crawl under my bed covers right now."

She pleaded and he nodded.

"I understand... Take all the time that you need. I'll be right here."

He whispered as he pulled her into his arms for a bone crushing hug.

Hot tears streamed from Lacey's eyes. Her heart was heavy. Heavy with tears for a sister she wished she had known.

Hunt hugged her fiercely. He had lost Lila, he had lost her to heaven knows what but he wasn't going to allow the same happen to Candy.