After Midnight

10

"Lily? Hey Lily, you good?" Aiden asked snapping me from my flashback.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm good. This place just brings back a lot of memories."

"Are you reminiscing about how we first met?" He grinned a toothy grin. I flushed, and looked away from him, making him gasp. "You were! Now tell me, was it about how sexy I was back then? Coming up to you in detention with-"

"Oh my god, Lily!" Lena yelled from out of nowhere, throwing herself at me. "How are you? What have you been up to lately? I haven't seen you in so-"

"I'm good Lena." I laughed while hugging her back. "Everything's good."

"Come, lets go see the rest of the guys. They've been dying to see you again!" She squealed as she pulled me through the door to room 408. There stood Jack and Peter arguing about something near the chalkboard at the front of the room. The moment I walked in their eyes lit up, grins on their faces.

"Lily!" They both exclaimed, rushing to engulf me into a huge bear hug. "It's been how long, two years? We've missed you."

"I missed you guys too." I said, giving them a half smile. "So lets get down to business. Why exactly am I here?"

"I'm guessing Aiden didn't tell you the entire story." Jack said, giving Aiden a pointed look. Aiden put his hands up in a surrendering pose, making Jack roll his eyes. "Alright where to begin..."

"Two months ago we decided to get rid of the company. Business hasn't been so good since you left, and we were all pretty tired of constantly hunting down these stupid leeches. So-"

"You got rid of the company?" I asked frowning. I was ushered into Cage Inc. after Aiden exposed himself as a vampire to me four years ago. Apparently in the supernatural world if you expose your species to a human you either need to 1. Kill them or 2. Find some way for them to be useful in the supernatural world. Aiden chose the latter of the two, turning me into a vampire hunter for his family's business.

Cage inc. was strictly a vampire hunting business. We'd get a call from someone on the vampire council, go investigate, and then go capture the vampire that was wanted. Cage inc. only employed vampires until I came along because nobody seemed to think that a human would be any good at capturing vampires. They were proven wrong when I joined the company though, as I had been proven to be a bigger asset than realized.

I was a shitty hunter. I wasn't fast enough, strong enough, or smart enough for the vampire species, but the one thing I did have going for me was the surprise factor. No vampire ever expected a human to be working with a hunting agency, so it was easy for me to lure them out into secluded areas where the rest of the team would take care of them. Vampires had become my life after that. I knew everything and anything that could make one of those leech's tick. From everything to culture to curing, I became a dictionary on the species and I loved it. I had to admit it was a fun job, thrilling. I found the supernatural world to be completely mesmerizing. It wasn't a job that I wanted to go back to though, not after what Aiden did to me.

"Work wasn't as much fun without you around and it was harder to catch those leeches without our bait." Peter said making me roll my eyes.

"I'm more than just vampire bait."

"Yes, you are love." Aiden said, making me roll my eyes yet again.

"As I was saying." Jack said, interrupting the banter. "We were all set to get rid of the company when the council suddenly barged in one day, dragging Mike out. They said that they had proof of him working with Damius Cantano."

I snorted at his words. "Mike. With Damius Cantano? He would rather stake himself than be in the same room as him!"

"That's the point. We think he's been framed. The only day we were allowed to see Mike was when he was set to go on trail. When the guards were sent to go get him though, his cell was empty. Aiden thinks he was taken."

"No, I know he was taken. Call it brotherly instinct, but I know Mike, and I know he wouldn't do business with Cantano. I also know he wouldn't be smart or brave enough to escape before a trial. I don't know what's going on, but we need to find him."

"Alright so what's next? Do we have any leads, any clues?" I asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"We've got nothing so far. It's like he vanished without a trace." Lena said sighing.

"Jack, Peter." I started "go back to the cell that Mike was held in. See if there's any clues to how he escaped laying around. Try to ask other people, prisoners, guards, if they know anything or if you could see some security footage of that day. Bribe anyone if you have to. Lena, hang around some council members, see if they know what business Mike was supposedly doing with Cantano. And Aiden, go check your brother's apartment again. Make sure you look through everything, that there's nothing you've missed. We'll meet back here in a couple of days to try to figure something out, sound good?" I asked and everyone nodded.

"Now if you will excuse me I need to get going, I'm expecting guests in a little while and need to make sure they're not serial killers."

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A/N
Okay guys this is it *spoiler* the next chapter we finally get to meet our werewolf lover boy!!!!

I know that this book may be a bit confusing right now, and I know it's going kinda slow, but I needed to give you guys as much background info about Lily as possible. Everything should be speeding up and falling into place soon and I can't wait to post more!

Side note: I'm actually starting to like Aiden more than I thought I would ????

Leave any questions in the comments and I'll be happy to answer! Xxx