Ch. 125: Looking for Answers

CHAPTER 125:
Rachel~
The weekdays start off the same. Bus, school, and training.
“Ugh!” Ally exclaims in frustration.
“You alright there?” I ask her, one eye open since I was in the middle of meditating. It’s been getting easier, practicing the expansion of my well of power. Basically I spend a long time going down, down, down into the bottom and then I spend time trying to dig it deeper. It’s where I am trying to store the energy and magic I’ve been collecting from everyone. “You’re starting to sound like me from like a month ago.”
“I’m pretty sure you were much whinier than that,” Kyle says wryly without moving at all.
He looks like he could be frozen in his seated position with his eyes closed.
Ally sucks in a breath, her fingers touching the bridge of her nose. “Goddess Hecate, give me patience with these two.”
“Hey!” I swat at her.
Her face breaks into a smile and she huffs out a breath.
“Sorry, I just- I don’t understand how I keep hitting these walls. Like I was so much less experienced when we had those visions of Maxine, and when I found Jake’s parents…” She winces. “Sorry.” Her eyes flicker to me expecting me to react in some way I clearly wasn’t.
“Ally, it’s okay. Go on,” I nudged her.
“It’s just every strategy we used before, it’s all useless right now. It’s like I’m working with a new sophisticated laptop with some top dollar upgrades, but it can’t connect to Wifi,” she rushes out, exasperated.
“Do you think that’s actually what it is - a wall? Like once you were there in the battle and they knew there was a Witchling on our team, do you think they set up protections against you?” I ask her.
She stops, stunned.
“I was totally going to say the same thing,” Kyle adds.
I threw my notebook at him that was lying on the grass between us. “Not helpful! And not true.”
Kyle lazily turns to look at me, like I’m the annoying little sibling, and says, “If you keep throwing things at me I’m going to tell on you.”
I roll my eyes at him and look back at Ally who's lost in thought.
“So I just need to do something different, something not witchcraft based. Something they wouldn’t be able to block…” she thinks aloud, one finger on her temple, her eyes racing. “We’ve been going about this all wrong. We should be working with what they don’t have.”
She looks up grinning at Kyle.
“Why do I feel like a lobster picked out at a restaurant?” he asks.
I look at Ally to see she is looking at me the same way.
“Is this the part where I gulp audibly?” I ask.

Later at lunch we meet outside the gym.
“Please don’t tell me there’s running involved,” Kyle says to me. “Goddess knows I have more of a swimmers body.”
I chuckle at his remark. “I’m not sure we’re going to be going for a swim anytime soon.”
The door in front of us opens slightly.
“Guys?” Ally whispers.
I pull the door open wider and her eyes get large with panic. She grabs our hands and pulls us in. “Quick!” she demands.
The door closes behind her softly.
“Did anyone see you?” She asks us seriously.
“Of course. Look at all this,” Kyle gestures to himself. “Who wouldn’t notice all this?”
I snort. Ally glares at him totally unamused.
“Can’t you be serious?” she asks him.
Something I can’t pin crosses his face and then his grin drops. “No Ally, no one saw us outside.”
“Good,” she perks up. “Come on.”
We follow her to the side of the gym, she opens a door into what appears to be a closet from the outside. When I step in and she flicks on the light however, I realize it’s definitely not a closet. There’s padding all over the floor and some dummy in the middle of the room.
“This is when I’d usually make some trademark funny remarks - but Allyis being a total bummer today. Just imagine something about a s*x dungeon,” Kyle says to my side.
“Okay, so how did you get these keys and learn about this room?” I turn to Ally with a brow raised, pointedly ignoring Kyle’s latest comment.
“Light magic. Emphasis on light, I promise,” she says quickly.
“And what are we doing here? Trying out those attack moves Evan showed us?” Kyle asked, walking over to more closely inspect the dummy.
“Sleeping,” Ally said, smiling broadly.

Nick~
A shiver goes through me. Something about this guy’s voice is totally unsettling. I turned to confirm it was, in fact, the vampire who had snuck up on my sneaking up on him. It was. My face contorts into a sneer as I face him. A growl releases automatically.
He laughs.
“You’re the one breaking into my home, but you’re growling?” he asks with a raised eyebrow. “Tsk, tsk.”
He circles me slowly and I am ready to shift, my teeth itching to come out.
“So are you going to try to entertain me with why you are breaking in here?” he asks, looking at me like I’m gum on the bottom of his shoe.
The question focuses me.
“The Collective,” I growled.
That seems to surprise him.
“Are you here to take me back to them? A big game of fetch, is it?” he questions me.
“No,” I growl again.
He continues to circle me for a few more steps before coming to a stop.
“So what is it then?” he pushes.
“I’m here for information. I hear you’re selling,” I say, my jaw locked.
“Hmm…” He stops and fiddles with the short stubble on his chin. “That is interesting… You seem a little young and… alone… to be asking such big questions.”
“I can pay if that’s what you’re worried about,” I say shortly.
My eyes scan for exits as he examines his finger nails.
“What is it exactly that you want to know?” he says after a moment, taking a step closer to me.
I fight the urge to shift, my claws begging to come out and slam into this pompous jerk’s neck.
I roll my shoulder to release a little tension. “I want to know about Callum. The Soul Eaters. Anything about their weaknesses, how to defeat them.”
His face changes to something resembling being impressed.
“Well you’re really just going for it, aren’t you?” he asks, his eyes still examining my every move. “Can I assume your wolf club is being targeted by The Collective?”
I don’t answer that.
He takes a step closer to me and I don’t stop the warning growl as it exits my throat. I want him to remember what I am and what damage I could do. He smirks at that, and spends far too long totally still with a finger on his chin thinking.
Several seconds past awkward he makes a click sound in his mouth. Then says, “Okay. I’ll tell you what I know. But, it’s not going to be cheap.”
“Well what are we talking about here exactly?” I push for clarification.
We set a reward range after a little bartering.
“Okay, deal. Now tell me something worth it,” I say, crossing my arms.
“Well, let’s start with Callum. I have something of his that he would really like to get back. It could give you some leverage in the right situation…” he starts to walk off to a far corner. After a few moments he adds, “Are you following me or what?”
I move quickly and round the corner but I don’t see him.
‘We need to leave’ Asher links me as we hear sounds up ahead.
No heartbeats but more than one set of feet walking. I spin quickly on my heel and start to rush back before I’m struck by something sharp in my neck.
My hand goes up in reaction, as it pierces my skin. Panic and adrenaline rush forward and I keep pushing forward back the way I came. I take a few good steps before my knees give out and I’m on the floor. I fight unconsciousness and struggle to crawl. I push for every inch, fear roaring through me.
My eyes and arms grow so heavy, so heavy. Darkness threatens to take over my eyes. I register footsteps next to me.
“Get him on the phone,” I heard the vampire I had been following say.
Darkness flickers over my vision and my fingers spasm, trying to claw for another inch.
“Callum - yes. Yes. Ah well, I have something here you might be interested in…” he says as the darkness takes hold.