The Fugitive

Nothing out of the ordinary happened to her overnight; Esme woke up like usual but without her regular nightmares and her companion, Einar, the cat, gone. She was fed a cooked breakfast meant for two large men and welcomed to stay for the rest of the day. Esme politely declined and was very much relieved when Grannie accepted this and let her leave the café. A lot had been said over food, all of which was only between Esme and Grannie; Kasia had not returned. 

Strolling out of Grannie's pies, Esme shoved her hands in her pockets, still warily looking down the streets like someone might grab her at any second. Even if she had a place to crash last night, with this new revelation of witches, there was still someone out there who wanted her, for what she did not know. But Esme was certain that this particular person was not Ethan; no, her mate would not wait in the darkness of the forest. And after seeing the flame tattoo on the dead man's chest, she knew there was a high chance that they wanted to kidnap her only to kill her. 

With her senses still very much and alert, Esme pulled her phone out again and saw the bars of her signal were back to normal. She ignored the missed calls, getting straight to business first. Clicking on her contacts, she tapped the button until it landed on Lenny, and she hit the dial button, putting the device against her ear while she continued to walk. After the first two rings, he picked up. 

"Esme," He breathed, sounding exhausted. Esme frowned. Shouldn't he call her kid? "Where are you?" His tone sounded urgent, and she took her time analysing that fact alone before responding. 

"Oh, I'm about," She said nonchalantly, shrugging for emphasis though nobody was there to see it. 

"Where?" He demanded, stressing the word with a bit of bite.

"Look, Lenny. I'll give you your money if you give me a time and place. I'm not gonna skip town without giving you what's due. What do you take me for?" She joked, trying to lighten the tension brewing between them. Lenny paused, and she could hear voices; though she couldn't quite make out what was said, he was more than likely muffling the sound with his hand. 

Esme crossed the street and stopped in front of a designer shop, pretending to be interested in an outfit one of the mannequins wore while she waited, ignoring the judgemental stares from the staff behind the till. Esme didn't need to look down to know that her attire did not exactly fit in with their world. But she preferred not being there; it was all fake and fake smiles anyway, she should know; she acted well in front of others at Ethan's command, proving to others they were the perfect couple.

"Come to ONYX," Lenny's voice broke through her thoughts, and she nodded, flipping the phone shut, cancelling the call. 

"Ah," She realised her mistake. With a shrug, she headed to her workplace that for a little while now had started to make her feel comfortable. Vampire bar or not, there was a lot of protection in that building, and even then, she knew the quickest route to the nearest train station, and if need be, she could always hot wire Leo's car. 

Esme walked through the front doors to ONYX, heading straight for the bar where she expected to see Lenny. But instead was faced with Rory and Hana, who leaned against the back part of the bar, smiling at one another. "Oh, such a hard life for some," Esme mocked before leaning on her elbows, looking between the pair, holding back a knowing smile. 

"They seem awfully close.." Isana commented the obvious with a yawn filling her voice. 

Why was her wolf tired? They had a decent night sleep. 

"No, YOU had a decent night sleep. I kept calling your name, but you wouldn't answer. Those witches definitely did something last night," Her wolf growled. "I stayed up all night to make sure nothing bad was going to happen, not that I could probably do anything anyway."

Esme blanked at her wolf's comment and almost missed Hana's response. "Well, well, well! How was last night?" Hana wiggled her eyebrows, her face brimming with excitement from any gossip. Esme looked at her like she had no idea what she was talking about, especially since her wolf said she had no way of talking to her. 

Why would the witches do something like that? What was the point?

"Oh, stop being so modest!" Hana gushed and leaned across the bar from her, glancing in Rory's direction, who seemed to take the hint and murmured about changing a barrel. But again, Esme had no clue what Hana was talking about, so instead of guessing, she just asked.

"Hana, what are you going on about?"

"You and Leo! Your date!" She squealed and clapped her hands before looking sideways, her face falling. 

Esme blinked in surprise. Was it only last night she hung out with Leo? It felt so long ago because of the following events, fighting rogues and then meeting witches. 

"Date? It wasn't a date. We just hung out.." Esme began and trailed off, her head turning in the direction Hana was looking. Niko stood there, arms crossed with one brow raised. Esme frowned from the stern expression on his features and followed after him after he tilted his chin slightly, beckoning her silently to come with him.

Esme looked over her shoulder at Hana, who wore a worried expression for her friend but then made an odd gesture that the she-wolf could only place that Hana wanted her to text her the details. Rory must have told Hana they were going on a date even after Leo declined the assumption. She sighed, the bar's gossip was the last thing on her mind right now, and it didn't bother her. As long as Leo was on the same page as her, then what did it matter.

"Are you sure about that?" Isana questioned and started thinking about Gabriel and how he would react to Esme and Leo's relationship.

"Why would Gabriel react to such an idiotic thing? I'm sure a King has better things to do than listen to baseless gossip," Esme reprimanded, her brows drawing together at what her wolf was suggesting. 

"Uhuh.. So, if you found out Gabriel was seeing someone, you wouldn't feel jealous?" Isana asked, her voice a little arrogant at how the question made Esme grit her teeth.

"I have no right to be. We are friends. Now stop with this nonsense. He is a vampire, a king at that, and I am a werewolf, a rogue running from my ex.." She trailed off, almost laughing bitterly at how different they were. 

But then, why would she be bitter?