Chapter Six: Ritualistic

A/N: Thanks to everyone for checking out my story! I just wanted to take a second to say that while the last couple chapters seemed like they had nothing to do with each other, or the overall plot of this story, but I promise that it all ties together in the end! If you have comments or suggestions for what you'd like to see, drop a review!

It sat in its workroom, this time in moonlight.

In front of it sat the table, bone fragments still in place. The hand reached up, holding a dark hair, the true color indistinguishable, to the moonlight. Its face moved in close, sniffing at the loose strand, its lips twisting into a smile. Yes, it had found the correct hair.

Picking up a fragment from the table, it wound the hair around it, using amazingly dexterous fingers to tie it.

It whispered a few phrases in a foreign language, and picked up a plastic cage, placing it directly in the largest moon beam reaching the table. Inside, crawling along the fake miniature landscape, roamed a large tarantula. Flipping open the top latch, the worker picked up the fragment wrapped in hair, and dropped it in the cage before slamming the latch shut.

The spider rushed over to the bone, wrapping its hairy body around it, and set to work.

Leaning back, the only thing that could be seen were the worker's teeth, shining in the bright moonlight. Soon, everything it wanted, it would have.

Mark and Vex returned to Vex's place, and if Mark had been using the Mesmer as a shield before, not he actually ducked behind him.

"Oh shit," Vex managed to say as the punch landed square on his jaw. To his credit, he was able to stay standing. He took another jab to the gut, then said, "Alright, alright, enough," holding his hands up in surrender.

Dyson's eyes were on fire. Mark was equal parts horrified and humiliated. Just because he was Mark's father, he didn't believe that they had known each other long enough for him to get this paternal so quickly.

"Dad!"

"Mark," Dyson said quietly, "stay out of this. I'll deal with you later."

Vex put his arm out, freezing Dyson to the spot. "Now, now, Papa Bear, let's all just calm down."

"I swear Vex, let me go or I will hunt you down."

"There's no reason we can't all be reasonable here," Vex said, not relinquishing his control. "Marky is a grown man, he can make his own decisions."

"Who did you even hear about this from anyway?" Mark asked. Damn, he thought, word travels fast around here.

"Tamsin."

Vex finally let go and Dyson's body went less rigid. He shook himself off. "Mark, can I talk to you for a second? In private?"

Mark gave Vex a look, and received a gentle nod. "Go ahead. I'll be inside when you're done."

As Vex ducked inside, Dyson took Mark's arm and led him several feet away. Mark tried to read his father's body language, but he hadn't known him long enough. Rage was evident, but beyond that the wolf was surprisingly hard to read.

"What do you think you're doing?" Dyson hissed.

"Who do you think you are?"

"I think I'm your father. And I also think that I know Vex a lot better than you do, and he's not the sort of person that I'd like to see you with."

Mark swallowed, hard. "Are you saying that because he's a guy?"

"What? No!" Dyson said.

"Then what is it, what about Vex is so horrible that you don't want me to spend time with him? Since I've moved here, he's been the only person, yes, that includes you," Mark said, jabbing a finger into his father's chest, "that has actually taken the time to get to know me. Why am I even standing here talking to you?"

"Because I'm trying to do what's best for you!"

"How could you possibly know what's best for me when you haven't made any attempt to get to know me?" By then they both were screaming, calling the attention of passer-bys.

Noticing this, they ducked within a side alley.

"There's been a lot going on. I am trying to make time for you, but I just haven't been able to do so just yet. Soon, though…" Dyson said, his voice quieter now.

"Well, let me tell you," Mark returned, his voice still high and tight. "Vex has time for me now. So when you're able to spare more than a few punches, I'll hear you out. Until then, stay out of my personal business." Without waiting for a response, Mark stormed out of the alleyway.

Walking into the entrance of Vex's building, Mark felt himself stumble and crashed into the wall. His father's words stung more than he let on, and now they came bubbling to the surface, and his mind filled with doubt. Of course, he knew, deep down, that he could trust Vex more than his own father at this point, because even though they've only known each other a short time, the time they spent reverberated more within him than the collection of moments he'd shared with dear old Dad.

There was something more than that, however, that weighed on Mark's mind. It was as if someone had planted a seed in him. This whole time, since he danced with Vex at the Black Ball, he had been toying with the idea of giving this man his love. He wanted to, and every fiber of his being wanted him to, but still he gave pause.

This was the sort of conversation was what he yearned to have with his father. But his father was over a thousand years old, and from what he'd gleamed from his few friends was that Dyson had yet to give his love to anyone. Here Mark stood, a fraction of that age, and wanting to give his love so freely. Did this make him less of a shifter, this urge to fall in love so deeply and so suddenly?

So he was torn between going up those stairs and deciding to go home. It boiled down to listening between his heart and his blood. Dyson showing up tonight could possibly be a sign, to signal him that he traveled down the wrong path.

But also, the animosity with which his father attacked Vex… it made Mark fill with uncertainty.

He felt like he couldn't breathe, and his vision started shaking. His blood pulsed heavily at his temples. His face flushed, as if he was being overpowered by a force he couldn't comprehend.

Footsteps echoed down the stairwell.

Mark froze in a panic. The likelihood of that sound belonging to Vex was probable, but the shifter didn't want to know for sure.

He was running without realizing he started. The buildings passed by him in a haze. Sweat beaded along his brow, and he used one arm to swipe it away. Almost bumping into several people on his way, he finally made it back to his apartment building. Rushing to his unit, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket.

Checking the face, he saw Vex was calling. Hesitantly, he ignored the call, noticing that it wasn't the first call he'd missed.

Instead of talking, he didn't think he could bring himself to that, he let himself inside and fell to the couch. He opened up his text messages, pulled up Vex's number, and sent him a simple, "I'm sorry. Talk later."

His emotions were all over the place, bouncing from one extreme to another. How was this happening to him? He thought again. This was so utterly unlike how he's acted in the past in relationships, it scared him.

Clutching a cushion to his chest, he sprawled out on the couch and tried his best to fall asleep. After all, tomorrow he'd be starting his job at the Dahl and he couldn't screw up this opportunity like he had the last. Then he recalled that Vex was the person responsible for this second chance, and a wave of guilt snaked its way through him.

Just go to bed, he told himself. Things will look different in the morning.

"Good, you're dressed. Want to help me with a case?" Bo asked when she saw Kenzi enter the kitchen.

"Bo, I need to talk to you about something."

"Absolutely. You know how seriously I take that phrase from you since Inari, but can we walk and talk? I'm running late for an appointment," Bo said, grabbing various objects off the counters and stuffing them into her bag.

"Sure," Kenzi replied, and they began walking through the city in the early morning sunlight. "Who makes an appointment this early?"

"Apparently water sprites are morning people," Bo said. "Oh, how was the club last night?"

"Well, Discord is an accurate enough name for it."

"So it wasn't all that fun?"

"No, we had a blast, until the end. Something strange is going on with Ashton."

Bo could sense Kenzi was down playing whatever it was that happened last night, but didn't understand why. They were normally able to freely share whatever crossed their minds and now Kenzi said she wanted to talk, but something stalled her.

"Kenz, what's going on?"

"There's a secret basement section of the club, for Fae only. They wouldn't let Ashton in since his lineage was too weak, and he got a little weird. I thought that we got over it because I invited Vex and Mark to come so we could get in…"

"A secret Fae level of a night club? Now that sounds like my cup of tea." Bo said. "Why do I sense it lacked in the fun department?"

"The music was weird and affected me in some strange way. I basically lost myself like never before, and then I was dancing. With Vex, with Mark, with strangers. When I found Ashton, he was off on his own."

Bo stopped, waiting for the light to change so she could cross the street, and turned to her friend. "What's so wrong about needing a little alone time?"

"He was dancing, and it looked like he had a partner but he didn't," Kenzi said, and felt the familiar chill creep up her spine. "He just spun, and it looked like he mirrored someone out on the floor. I tried to see who he was looking at, and…"

The light turned and they hurried across the street. "OK, that's a little weird, but who was he copying?"

"Every move he made was completely in sync with Vex, of all people."

"OK, that's very weird. What did he say when you asked him about it?"

Kenzi fell silent and picked up her pace to get along side Bo. "Where are we going again?"

"It's a little café just up the road, question-dodger. You did ask him, didn't you?"

Kenzi's continued silence was enough of an answer. She seemed to draw into herself, and Bo knew it would be best to stop prying. "Well, you'll have to call him eventually. He seems really into you."

"I know," Kenzi said. "Is this the place?"

Bo almost walked right past it. "Sure enough."

"Can you tell me who we're meeting, so it's not a huge surprise?"

Bo gave her a quick break down of her meeting with Kendrick. "I called Ronaldo and Eva, but they wouldn't agree to meet together. Something is definitely up here, and I'm curious as to what he has to say. I'm getting a very eerie feeling about this case."

"Alright, well let's get this over with," Kenzi said as her phone went off.

"Ashton?"

"Yeah, but he can wait. Let's get our detective on!"

They ducked inside the café and found Ronaldo easily enough. He had the same beautiful appeal as Kendrick, except where Kendrick had pale, nearly ghost-white skin, Ronaldo's skin was a deep caramel. Bo heard Kenzi gasp a little as they walked up to the table, forgetting to tell her about the attractiveness of this particular species.

"Ronaldo? Hi, I'm Bo," she said. He stood up from the table and they shook hands. "This is my associate, Kenzi. Thank you so much for meeting us here."

"Let me be clear about one thing," Ronaldo said with an air of no-bullshit, "I'm not here because Morgan and I might have used to be friends, but because I hate seeing one of our kind lost."

"OK!" Kenzi exclaimed, giving Bo a sideways glance.

"I understand," Bo said. "So why don't we get started. You, Morgan, and Eva went on one of your long ocean exploration trips, but the three of you didn't return together. And so far, Morgan hasn't returned at all."

"I was the first one to split from them, about three years in. I don't know exactly what happened, but it was almost as if they were pushing me away. I didn't appreciate being cut out of swims and dives, and after awhile I got sick of it. One morning I awoke and they had just left me behind. I tried going after them but it was useless. Our species is excellent at covering our tracks. If we don't want to be found, you won't find us." Ronaldo's fingers trailed the rim of the coffee cup on the table.

"Do you have any idea what happened, why they would turn on you like that? According to Kendrick, the three of you had been on many trips together without a hitch."

Kenzi's phone rang again. "Shit, sorry, sorry," she apologized, placing the phone on silent.

"I don't know, and honestly I don't care. Before they left, our friendship had already ended. It just took me a while to figure it out. It was like my feelings for them slowly dissolved without me even realizing it. And now that it's been severed, I have no intention of trying to restore it."

Bo leaned forward. "That's interesting. Do you know of any Fae that might have that power? That kind of control over such strong bonds?"

"If I cared, I probably would have looked into it. But as I've said, it's over. Any other questions?"

Bo and Kenzi shared a look, then Bo said, "No, I guess we've got all we can. Again, thank you so much for your time. It's much appreciated."

They stood to leave, and when Bo was only halfway out of her seat, Ronaldo grabbed her hand, halting her ascent. He moved in close to her, his mouth directly next to her ear. "I don't give two fucks what happened to Morgan, I believe I've made that crystal clear. But Kendrick is a decent man, and he's helped me out several times over the past century or so. Please do whatever you can to ease his pain."

Locking eyes with him, Bo said, "I promise."