Inez stared at the man in both shock and sheer amazement when she saw that the man hadn’t answered her question and had instead gone looking for something to eat in her kitchen. She blinked her eyes before chasing after the man. When she saw him pulling out a packet of ham from her refrigerator, she couldn’t help but frown.
"I have ham?" she mused, but before Killian could answer her, she snatched the pack right out of his hands and said to him, "I don’t know about you, but I would like to have my kitchen intact. You know?"
The man shrugged and said to her, "You are acting a bit exaggerated; I can put ham and bread together. "That’s something that even a child could do."
In response, Inez simply rolled her eyes. She pulled the packet of bread and sauces out of the refrigerator before turning to look at the man behind her. She eyed him warily before making a ham sandwich for Killian.
Pushing the plate of sandwiches in front of the man, she crossed her arms and asked him, "So what did Joannes tell you?"
He took a bite of his sandwich. "You are looking a lot better than you were looking in the morning."
"I am feeling a lot better. So, Joannes?" She nudged the man for an answer.
Killian took another savage bite of the sandwich and hummed. "He didn’t tell us anything. Couldn’t. He was already dead by the time we got there."
Inez did a slow blink. "Dead? How could he die in just a matter of a night?"
"As much as it is hard to believe, it’s the truth," said Killian in between his bites. Killian told her about everything that he saw in the small office where the halflings lived with Joannes. "I asked Third Eye to trace down every single one of the halflings who had once worked for Joannes, but unfortunately, they had no idea who this witch or wizard was with whom Joannes had a secret deal. He was quite secretive about it, as he feared that someone else could double-cross him and take the opportunity from him."
"So we cannot confirm anything at the moment. There is a high chance that it can be my mother or someone else. Of course, we can never narrow down the list of people, as I have pissed off a lot of shifters. Or there is another probability; whatever that witch was saying was true."
She raked her hand through her hair, feeling a bit flustered. Inez didn’t feeling at all.
The fact that her enemy was in the dark and she was out in the open was something that she couldn’t quite process or accept. It made her feel exceptionally vulnerable.
"Did you go to visit your mother?" She asked. A frown settled between her brows.
"I did." Killian rose to his feet. He placed the dish in the dishwasher and turned to look at her before leaning against the island. "She is gone."
"What do you mean by ’she is gone?" Inez didn’t know a lot about Killian’s mother, but something about her going AWOL in this situation sounded really fishy. Or was she the only one hyperventilating? She was alone? Fine then.
Killian’s lips twitched in amusement when he heard her voice becoming louder. "I don’t know a lot about what she was doing before she left the pack, but I did talk with a few of her packmates, and they said, and I quote, she was talking about some seductress charming her son, who deserved more than a scrawny and thin woman. I believe that she once again went on the hunt for looking for a witch who could help her."
Inez had nothing to say regarding this. She knew that Killian’s mother had some issues, but she never knew that the woman was the kind of woman who would jump the gun at the smallest possible turn. That was kind of — alright, really weird.
"So you mean to say that she might not be—" Inez paused at the sound of the doorbell ringing. Great, another visitor.
Letting out a heavy breath, she strolled down the hallway and looked through the peephole. Nyx. What in the world was this woman doing here? Opening the front door, Inez gave the woman a fake smile. "Hi?" It wasn’t that she had something against Nyx, but after watching the woman bring a helpless siren to the party and let her be ravaged physically and later on killed due to the greed of the shifters, Inez just couldn’t bring herself to like Nyx.
Nyx’s grin was all charm. "Hey, there. I heard what happened last night. Thought I would stop by and see how you are doing."
"Thanks. I am doing alright." Inez didn’t want to step aside but realised that it would be a bit rude, so she stepped to one side and allowed her to pass.
"I wanted to come here last night, but by the time I got to know, it was already too late, and no one wanted me to disturb you when you were sleeping."
Inez shrugged and remarked, "Well, I was shot three times. Those were some heavy dosages of drugs."
Nyx’s grin widened. She said to her with a nod, "Well, the witches are known to dabble in the human world. They often try to mix their magic with human inventions. But I have to say that you are looking really good for someone who was—" She froze only one step inside the lodge, as she had spotted Killian leaning against the kitchen’s countertop. The man was drinking coffee from her mug while scrolling through whatever he was staring at on his phone. No matter how one looked at it, he looked right at home.
And Nyx, who was Lyla’s sister, didn’t seem quite pleased with the sight.
Nyx’s mouth went tight. "Killian." Her voice took a hard edge as she addressed Killian. Even though the two of them were close enough to fight side by side, Inez had a feeling that neither of them got along with one another. She wondered how Nyx was even loyal to Killian when her heart never forgave Killian for what happened with her sister.
Killian raised his head and looked at Nyx. He grunted at her before taunting, "So it seems like the rose-tinted glasses are finally off your eyes?"
Hey fairies~ If you like the story, please vote for it through golden tickets. It will really give my motivation a boost. Of course if you want an extra Chapter every day next month---you can gift me a castle. hehe.