Csoh: Have you ever reread something you wrote and cried? I just reread the last chapter of this while listening to Seal's Violet and I balled. Flat out sobbed for a while. My parents just shook their heads, but that was sad! Anyway, My computer got infected with a virus so I couldn't write anything until now. I have been so busy I had to reread this whole story to remember where I was going to go from here! ^_^

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Chapter 9: Researching

Saya couldn't get Solomon to stop. It seemed like he was always talking about moving away to somewhere else.

"What about if we moved to New York or Seattle?" Saya set down her coffee and looked at the guy. It would have been funny if he wasn't serious.

"No Solomon! If we leave they will just follow so we might as well stay and whatever they try we can call the police and that'll be it."

"Saya I told you-" Saya walked out of the room before the disagreement grew into a fight. Again. It had been a week since she had left the cottage and came back to Toronto, but it had felt like eternity. It seemed like the only other person she got to talk to was her neighbor, a DJ from France named Shanta. She was usually working all night and was only around for a couple of hours, but she was more entertaining than Solomon at this point.

Saya headed to the front door to visit when Solomon saw her. "You going over to Shanta's again?" Saya nodded and he grabbed his coat and followed her until the door was shut in his face.

"Sup Saya?" Shanta was eating 'breakfast' as she greeted her guest.

"Not much. Solomon is getting on my nerves again." She laughed and leaned back.

"You should just make him take you to my club. I'm telling you it would be worth it. That guy is tres bon*!" Saya tried not to hurl at the thought.

"I don't think of him like that." Shanta looked at her for a minute before smirking.

"Je vois*... So you like someone else." Saya's thoughts went back to Hagi. She felt her face turning red.

"..." Shanta laughed and started to pick up her records on the floor. She had to be the most musical person in the world. Her condo was filled with records, instruments, and sheet music. It seemed more like a music hall than a house.

"Relax Saya. I won't tell ol' Sol that you like someone else. With the way he's shadowing you though I would think he already knows." Saya thought about it clutching her bag with Hagi's journal close.

"They kind of met each other a while ago." She tried not to think about the fight. It shouldn't matter. Not as long as she found out who was telling the truth and who was lying.

"I bet that had to have been great. If there's one thing I know it's this. Never let a guy who likes you know that you like someone else unless you don't care if they fight." Saya looked at Shanta.

"Have you had two guys fight over you?" Shanta laughed.

"Nope! But it seems like a smart idea." She picked up her vinyl travel case and set it down by the door. "Why don't you come with me to work tonight. I'm sure you could use the time away from Solomon and I have these two new records that will just rock the club tonight. Lady Gaga and also Shakira's She Wolf. You'll love it, usually I stay away from today's artists and then Shakira's stuff I usually hate but She Wolf... Parfait*!" Saya shook her head at Shanta.

"I probably shouldn't. Solomon-"

"Saya." Shanta pulled a chair up and sat down on it backwards. "Look, you NEED the retreat. That guy has you locked up like some animal and that's just messed up."

"I need to look up some things on my computer-"

"Hey, I'll bring my laptop and you can sit in the lounge area and research to your hearts content. C'MON!!!" Shanta started to pout.

"Fine." Shanta pulled out her other long coat and threw it at Saya. "What's this for?"

"I'm sneaking you out. I'm going to have you get in my car first and then I'll get in the car and we'll be gone before Solomon notices that you're missing."

"Oh. Why can't I just wear my coat though."

"Because if he sees your coat than he'll know it's you and if he tries to stop me then I can yell at him." Saya wasn't sure as she started out the front door. The shadows threatened to reveal Solomon as the wind whispered through the night. Shanta's jet black car was right in front of her. Saya quickly jumped in the passenger side and looked towards her condo. Solomon wasn't looking. She held her bag close hoping that he wouldn't catch them.

After several long torturous minutes Shanta finally jumped into the car and they were speeding towards her club.

The club was the most unusual on Queen Street. While most clubs had one selection of music. Rap, R&B, Country, this club played everything (except country because the owner hated it). The place was having a live performance when Shanta and Saya walked in. Shanta ran to the DJ booth and Saya found a nice couch to sit on and she turned on the laptop.

A picture of some guy popped up on the background with a subtitle underneath

Acheron Parthenopaeus (Mine not yours so stop ogling him)

Shaking her head at Shanta's nonsense, Saya pulled up the Internet and started to surf. Typing in chiropteran, a load of bat awareness websites popped up. She looked up Red Shield. A boat load of shield crafting websites popped up. It seemed hopeless, she looked up as the song turned from jazz into techno.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, DJ Shanta is in the place and I'm throwin' down the best of the ages so shut up grab a partner and start warming up the dance floor. What better way to start than with She Wolf by Shakira!" Saya lay back on the couch as others rushed to find partners. The song blared with a loud bass as she started to fall asleep.

"Tired?" Saya opened her eyes to find herself face to face with a large fat black guy.

"YOU!" Saya nearly fell off the couch. The guy smiled and held out his hand.

"Lewis. We were worried when you disappeared from the place."

"Why are you here?!"

"Just looking for you. You disappeared from Solomon's place so we went looking all over."

"Why would you be looking for me?" Lewis sighed and looked over towards the door. Saya looked over only to find that the blond guy and Lulu were coming over. Saya closed the laptop and stuffed it into her bag. The two hurried over and Lulu hugged Saya tightly.

"We looked everywhere for you!" The purple-haired girl was pulled away by Lewis as the blond sat down.

"Why did you leave." It was more of a demand than a question. Saya was annoyed of everyone assuming that she was just a follower. Saya jumped up with her bag and ran into the dance floor. The three tried to follow, but the crowd was thick enough that she made it to the DJ booth without being caught.

Lewis shook his head. David had gotten a call from Shanta earlier saying that she had gotten Saya out of Solomon's place and that they were at Le Violoncelle Ancien*. They had been skeptical at first, but sure enough she had been in the club typing in a corner. David and Lulu followed after Saya while Lewis called Hagi to tell him the news. They needed to get Saya before Solomon found her.

"What's up Saya?" Shanta turned around.

"I'm going to head home before I worry Solomon too much. Where do you want me to put your laptop?" Shanta looked skeptically for a minute before pointing to her briefcase and turning to continue working. Saya set the computer on it and ran out the back door. She headed down the alley and turned onto Queens Street. She needed to hurry and get back to the... Saya shook her head. Solomon would be pissed that she had left and gotten found by the others. He would have their belongings pack before Saya could even argue. No she needed to stay out for a while and then go back later so that Solomon wouldn't suspect anything.

Saya headed to a bus and got off at Queens Park. The place was quiet. Saya sat down on a bench and opened up Hagi's journal. She had skipped meals and stopped drinking everything except water so that she could read it and not see Solomon. She was not even halfway through the book.

She had just opened the book when she felt herself falling asleep. The darkness started to consume her. She tried to fight it, but soon she fell unconscious.

Hagi followed Saya at a distance. He turned into a park and started to search when he saw her. Saya was out cold on a bench. He forced himself not to find Solomon and kill him over this. Saya shouldn't have been left out in the cold. He picked her up. She was running a fever. She clutched the object she was holding closer to herself. It was his journal. Hagi turned and placed Saya in the car. David drove them out of the city and back to the cabin. The fire in the fireplace was almost out as he placed Saya under the covers.

"Where did you find her?" David walked into the house with Lewis and Lulu close behind.

"..." Hagi waited for them to leave.

"Fine. G'night." The three headed up to the upstairs bedrooms and the chevalier reclined in a chair near to her. She was sleeping soundly. The door opened up as Shanta walked in.

"I grabbed what I could. Solomon has no idea that Saya is here. He's searching the city as we speak." She threw the suitcase at the edge of the bed and looked over at him. "I have to get back to work now otherwise my boss will kill me." She started out of the room, but stopped short. "She loves you, Hagi. That you shouldn't doubt." She left the place and the house turned quiet.

The night seemed to last forever as he waited for her to awaken. She looked even paler than usual. He pulled the journal out of her arms and opened it up. He hadn't even noticed that it had been missing. The slightly torn pages had been taped and there were tear stains on some of the other pages. Saya started to stir as he set the book on the nightstand. She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hagi?" She was still tired as she tried to sit up.

"Saya, you need to get some rest." She shouldn't be moving while she was so ill. She tried to get off the bed and stand, but she started to fall over. Hagi caught her and held her close. She grabbed his middle and held tight.

"I'm sorry..." He tried to pull her arms away as he set her down, she held fast. Her amber eyes looked up at him. They were shimmering with tears as she stared back. "Will you stay here with me for a while?" He kicked off his shoes and pulled the comforter over them both as Saya snuggled up next to him. Hagi wrapped his arms around her and she started to fall asleep again.

Hagi watched over her the whole night. She slept soundly with her head on his chest. As the morning came Lewis, David, and Lulu got up. They went about getting food and calling headquarters. David walked in while hanging up the phone.

"Hagi?" He looked amused as he saw where Hagi was. "Right. I'm leaving to go meet up with Julia. Joel wants to pull Saya out now while we have her so that Solomon can't get to her again."

"She running a fever." She needed to stay put until she was feeling better.

"That may be however if Solomon gets her again I doubt even Shanta can get her away again." Hagi reluctantly nodded and started to get up. David left first to get the tickets as Lewis and Hagi cleared up the house. Hagi carried Saya to the van and they headed to the airport. Saya was still sound asleep as they boarded and the plane took off. Hagi kept her in his arms the whole flight over.

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Csoh: YES! Alright so there was some French in there and you might have seen it so here is some translating so that you can have a few laughs at the irony and understand Shanta.

Shanta is a French name derived from the French word chanter which means "to sing".

Tres bon means "very good"

Je vois means "I see"

Parfait means "perfect" (if you got it... PARFAIT!!!)

Le Violoncelle Ancien means "The Ancient Cello" (it's not a real club, but I wanted it so muah ha ha!)

Queens Street and Queens Park are both very real and are in Toronto.