-Quan Leung-
I left Kenji and Jade to mess up my kitchen for around an hour, knowing that Ruarc would take responsibility for that. They had been my colleagues for longer than they had been Ruarc's, but I had argued that he had the vampiric ability to go as fast as light, whilst I did not. If I were to clean their mess then it would take me the rest of the night, along with if I forced them to clean up after themselves. I almost felt like the babysitter in this case, despite them being Ruarc's, and Ruarc being mine.
Within that hour, I meditated, trying to develop my telepathic powers so that I could link myself to my mother, who was likely to be very weak at the moment. I felt terrible that I couldn't immediately link up to her, I would have to wait until later that night, I'd have to try incorporating some dream magic into the evening.
After that hour, I was surprisingly presented with a pizza, which was surprising because I didn't know that I had ingredients for pizza in my house, and because Jade and Kenji actually made something edible.
I tugged Ruarc up to my room after tea, doing my nighttime routine and laid down on the bed beside him. He was still wearing his proper clothes, which must be really uncomfortable, and laying on top of the covers as I lay underneath.
"Just in case something goes wrong," I told him in a whisper. I didn't really want Jade and Kenji to know what we were doing, because we hadn't really discussed what had happened and what our plans were in great detail. That would all be a task for tomorrow.
"What could go wrong?" Ruarc asked with a frown as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. He hadn't had his blood yet, but he assured me that he'd have it before I woke up tomorrow morning. "You won't go into a coma, will you?"
"Is that your worst-case scenario?" I asked quietly with a small laugh as I closed my eyes. "Because it could honestly be much worse than that."
"Worse how?"
I didn't answer his question, just patting the bed beside me and let Clover and Rosie jump onto the bed, The two cats curled up together between Ruarc and I, which would've been an extremely good photo opportunity if I wasn't already settled.
I leaned my head on Ruarc's shoulder and sighed, letting my breath tickle his neck before I began focusing. "Just stay here please," I whispered quietly. I felt somewhat vulnerable right now, even more so than I had when I was injured and being carried by him. I didn't know what was going to happen through the night.
Ruarc kissed my forehead gently before reaching under the covers and interlocking our fingers. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised. I didn't know why exactly these romantic gestures were hitting my heart in a different way to what I'm used to, but I wasn't going to object.
I took a deep breath and relaxed my mind, trying to remove myself from the room and Ruarc's arms. I thought back to what little I knew of my mother. I remembered her appearance, but most importantly her presence. I remembered what it was like to be in the same room as her, her warm and soft aura which always seemed to calm me down, a tactic most love witches had.
When I found myself materialising, I felt none of that warmth. The room I was in was cold and dark. There was a person lying on the bed and someone hovering above them. The person above them was an angel, I didn't recognise him, but he had short blonde hair and seemed to be my mother's age.
"We'll get her back," the angel promised. He seemed to sense my presence as his shoulders tensed and his eyes moved away from my mother. "Who's there?" His voice was filled with anger.
The door opened behind me, and a demon stepped in, his black eyes immediately met mine and he growled. He didn't do anything, but I could feel the darkness radiating from him. "It's a witch," he growled. There was something familiar about this demon. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was as though I had met him before. "Kavi-"
My heart froze, and I'm sure that the demon could tell as he looked at me with a different expression. He seemed confused, and I couldn't blame him. That was Kavi? So, this must be Loche. I had heard stories of them from my mother when I was young, but I thought that they would be dead by now.
"How is she?" I asked, schooling my expression as I backed away slightly. I was sure that my appearance wasn't comforting in the slightest. I did look quite a bit like my father.
"Loche, who is it?" Kavi asked, looking in my general direction. "Why can't I see them?"
I glanced between Kavi and Loche. "I don't think you're healthy enough," I said to Kavi with a small frown, wondering why he couldn't see me as well.
"That would make sense," Loche replied to me with a scowl on his face. "Kavi hasn't been looking after himself."
Kavi made a noise of indignation before reluctantly nodding his head and looking back towards my mother.
"She's obviously not doing well," Loche answered my previous question. "She lost her soulmate, she's dying."
My breath hitched and I shook my head, feeling the coldness of my frozen heart plummet to the bottom of my stomach. "She can't," I argued firmly. I began moving towards the bed, Loche had stepped forward on impulse, but he didn't come near me. He couldn't do anything to stop me anyway, even if he tried to. I was just a mental presence. "How long has she been like this?"
"Four days," Loche answered.
"Four days?" I repeated with a shocked tone. "So, it took...I'm sorry, is her name Juniper?" I felt bad for not knowing for certain, but I had never been told that my mother and her soulmate were together. I just assumed that it was Juniper from the stories I had been told.
"Yes," Loche answered again, this time sounding a little stiffer.
"It took Juniper four days to get to my father." I placed my hand on my chin as I went deep into thought. My image flickered due to my lack of concentration.
"So, you're Quan?" Loche asked in a way which suggested he knew the answer already. I realised that I had neglected to introduce myself before, so it must've been very strange and creepy for them to see me like this.
Kavi's head snapped up as he stared in my general direction. "It's Quan?" I sensed a little bit of happiness in his tone, something which didn't exactly fit this situation. "Is it really him?"
I couldn't help but feel mildly annoyed and mildly flustered. I felt like some sort of celebrity the way these two were acting about me, Kavi at least. It was like they had been watching me and waiting to meet me like some kind of television star.
"Yes." I nodded my head. "That is my mother, and we need to figure out a way to reunite her with Juniper."
"Hm, at least he has his priorities straight." Loche was acting like I wasn't even here, talking to Kavi instead. "What do you mean it took her four days to get to your father?"
I cracked my neck as I readied myself to explain the situation to them. "Basically, we have a fairy going undercover in my father's ranks. They keep bringing my consciousness, and that of my soulmate's-" I hesitated over the word soulmate "-to spy on them so that we have the upper-hand. I noticed that he has been separating soulmates and keeping them trapped in cages, and in the latest vision, we saw Juniper."
Loche's hands blacked into fists and his eyes narrowed. "What are they doing to her?" he growled out, black smoke coming off him in waves. But after a glance at Kavi, he took a deep breath and repeated what I'd said.
"Does it matter?" I asked, knowing that if I told him anything then he'd go after my father himself. "She and my mother are separated, they're both in soul-crushing agony. They need each other." The thought of how much I didn't sound like myself flashed through my mind, but I kicked it out of my head before it could build a nest.
"Obviously," Loche responded with a roll of his eyes. "But how?"
I was about to answer, but my image flickered. I was losing my vision of the surrounding area; hearing shouts enter my mind and vanish.
"Alchgrove," I said to the angel and demon before my vision went completely black.
"Quan!" Ruarc yelled, he was shaking my shoulder, but the world was black to me now. My head was pounding, causing me to wince and groan. My body felt numb, like I was being attacked by pins and needles and I hadn't connected fully to the waking world. "Quan, you have to wake up."
I made a few noises in the back of my throat and tried to move my body, which I couldn't do. My eyes were open, but I assumed that they were the same white that they usually were after I'd done some work.
"Jade," Ruarc said in the same loud tone, causing me to wince again and want to hide myself from the world whilst also hitting him on the back of the head.
"What? What happened?" Jade hurried into the bedroom. I was also faintly aware of a small weight on my chest.
"There's something wrong with him." It was only then I could hear the true fear and distress in Ruarc's voice. "He'd stopped breathing."