"Wait a minute? Betrothed to be married?" Coreen says.
"Uh, yeah. That's what the book said." Vicki says. "I just I don't understand. Henry never mentioned that before. He's only ever talked about Christina and a few other acquaintances, but never her and never anything about marriage." She says.
"Are you jealous?" Coreen smirks.
"Why would I be jealous?" Vicki says. "Henry's my partner. Friends. Nothing more." She says.
"Uh huh." Coreen says.
"Can we get back to trying to figure out what her motive might be in coming here?" Vicki says. "Her father mentioned that he also spent time training her and if he's in the dark magic, then she probably knows more then she leads on and more then Henry knows about." She says.
"So, what did her father say exactly?" Coreen asks.
"That she's more like him then she leads on." Vicki says. "Which could mean all sort of things. She could be after him for his power. She could be using us to get to him." She says. "I don't know." Vicki says taking her glasses off and throwing them on the desk. "But all I know is, if he's right and she's like him, then we're going to have to stop the two of them."
"What about Henry?" Coreen says.
"What about him?" Vicki says.
"We have to tell him." Coreen says.
"Which is where I'm headed." Vicki says heading to the door "You coming?" She asks looking back at Coreen.
Coreen and Vicki get to Henry's apartment shortly after sunset. Vicki knocks on the door, which is quickly answered by a shirtless Henry.
"Good morning." Vicki smirks walking in.
"Do you ever wait to be invited into someone's home or is it just mine that you invite yourself?" Henry asks.
Vicki laughs turning to him. "Just yours." She says.
"Do you have any information regarding the case or are you just here to check up on me?" Henry asks.
"A little bit both." Vicki says.
"Well, I'm obviously fine, so let's hear about the case." Henry says crossing his arms.
"I had a run in with Aria's father." Vicki says.
"He came by the office?" Henry asks concerned.
"Not exactly." Coreen mumbles causing Vicki to glare at her.
"Okay, so I might have went snooping through her apartment." Vicki says.
"You broke into her house and went through her things?" Henry asks. "Why? If you needed to know something, I'm sure she would have told you, have you asked. Same with me." Henry says.
"Like how you two were supposed to get married." Vicki says. "That's the hold that she has over you, isn't it. Why you keep going back?" Vicki says.
"Yes.. and no." Henry sighs. "It's much more complicated then that." He says. "But yes, if you must know, when my father agreed to recognize me as his son, I became part of court, which meant that I would be put in a marriage that would help my father. Since, Aria's father was a nobleman, close to the king, our fathers betrothed us. Our wedding was set to happen three days before she disappeared and yes, I loved her. I still do. But how did you find this information?" Henry says looking over at Vicki.
"She found Aria's family history book." Coreen buts in.
"Her family's memoir." Henry corrects. "Find anything else interesting that you would like to question me about, or are you going to get to the part about the run in with her father?"
"He told me a few things. Like how he trained her, not just her mother. That she's more like him then she lets on." Vicki says. "How much do you really know about her, Henry?" She says.
"More then you. Aria would never mess with the dark arts unless she absolutely had to and even then she would make sure that was the only way." Henry says.
"Until now. She was quite adamant about doing this ritual, that you're so against, I might add, without looking for another way." Vicki says.
"Because she's scared. She's a strong woman, Vicki, but she's terrified. I can sense it. This is her father after all." Henry says. "She's knows what he's capable of."
"Exactly, he is her father after all. How do you know that she's not wanting to be like him? How do you know that she's not trying to kill him for his power, so she can become this almighty powerful witch herself?" Vicki says.
"She's not like that. She's not like him!" Henry defends.
"People change Henry. People grow up, have issues." Vicki says. "Besides, it's been what over 2 centuries since you've seen her last. You don't know what's she's done or what she's involved herself in since you've seen her." She says.
"Maybe not, but you've known of her for all of two days and you want to tell me that I don't know her?" Henry says. "What is it about her that you don't like? The fact that we have history? That I love her. What?" He says.
"She's hiding something, Henry. I know it." She says.
"So, that's why you went to her apartment. It wasn't about the case at all. Are you even taking this case seriously? Or are you more concerned about her?" Henry says.
"She is the case, Henry." Vicki says.
"Of course, now if that's all you came here for.." He says. "I have plans." Henry says.
"Let me guess, Dinner with Aria." Vicki says.
"Perhaps." He says. "She'll be arriving soon, so if you could please let yourself out." He nods towards the door. "Goodnight Coreen." He says ignoring Vicki.
Aria was 10 minutes shy of running into Vicki and Coreen, when she arrives outside of Henry's apartment. She let herself in placing her pizza box on the counter.
Henry was working on a few of his sketches, when Aria walks over. "Something's wrong." Aria states.
"What makes you think that?" Henry as he continues shading the drawing.
"Well, I can sense that you're tense. Upset." She says. "And someone broke into my apartment. You wouldn't have any idea who that might have been do you?" She says taking a slice of pizza.
He sighs throwing his pen on the desk. "It was Vicki." He says. "She just needed some information."
"And she couldn't have spoken with me about this?" Aria asks.
"She as her ways in finding information. She believes that no one is 100% truthful, so she goes sleuthing to fact check." He says.
"But she trusts you." Aria says.
"She does, yes." Henry nods.
"But not about me. She doesn't trust you, about me." She says walking around the apartment.
"In a sense. She thinks my love for you and our history is blinding me from seeing what is truly there." He says.
"And what is that exactly?" Aria asks. "What is it that she sees that you don't?"
"She believes you're hiding something and that feeling of hers didn't let up anymore after her meeting your father." Henry says. "So, tell me, is there something that you're hiding from me?" He asks. Aria sighs. Henry appears in front of her. "You will tell me." He tells her in a trance.
"You should know me better than that." Aria says pushing him away. "You don't need to force me into anything. I'll tell you." Aria says. "The reason I left court was because my father had been training me in the dark arts. My mother could see what he was doing. He was trying to train me to become part of his army. He made it his mission to find others of our kind and drain them of their powers. My mother took me away before he could brainwash me anymore. When we were away, my mother explained to me about my father, who he truly was and what he was about. I hated him. I hated him for trying to use me as a pawn in his game. When my mother died, I had no idea it was him. I went to him for comfort. He was the sweet, caring, loving, father that I had always known. I fell into his trap, into his practices." She sighs. "I became his pawn, something I swore to my mother I would never do. It took me almost an year to realize that he killed my mother and not only did he use her to gain power, but to gain me. He knew that I would be so heartbroken, I would seek my father and he used that to his advantage." Aria says. "I'm not proud of what I did, or who I was during that time. It's something that I have to live with, but Henry I swear to you, I'm not like him. Not anymore. I don't want to become him. I want him gone for good. I want to be rid of the hold that he has over me." She whispers to him.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Henry whispers.
"Because I knew how you felt about magic and the time that we shared after all of this happened, was very limited. I didn't want to spend that time talking, exactly." She says.
"So, why is he after you now?" Henry asks.
"Because I'm the only one who knows his plan and who can stop him. He sees me as a threat, so I must be stopped." Aria says. "But I need help. I need help in trapping in. Finding a place where we can hold him, so I can finally fight him." She says.
Henry sighs.
"I understand if you're upset and I'm sorry that I never told." Aria says. Henry doesn't say anything, just stares out the window. "I'll leave then." Aria whispers grabbing her coat. Before she could place her hand the door, Henry was there in front of her.
"Don't. Don't go." He whispers. Aria looks up at him.
"We both have a past Aria. We can't change that, but we can learn from it." He whispers before leaning down to kiss her.
"He's not thinking clearly." Vicki sighs.
"How do you know that? Henry was right. He's known her a lot longer then we have." Coreen says.
"Exactly. Which means that he's only focusing on the times that he's been with her. The her that he's seen. There have been more years of them apart then together, he doesn't understand that." Vicki says.
"So, basically you're saying, he's blinded by love?" Coreen says.
"This girl is the only thing linking him back to who he once was. Someone that he was supposed to spend his life with. Someone he was supposed to love. He's lost her time and time again over his many lifetimes, and now that she's back, he's going to do anything to keep her. Regardless of how irrational it is. I mean look at the last decision he made because he was in love." Vicki says. "Henry and love doesn't end well."