Edit #1: Family member doing fine, thankfully only needed a blood transfusion. More tests being done, yada yada, the whole shabang.

Thanks for all the support though, means a lot!

Here's the full chapter up now, more mysterious stuff in the background at work!

Enjoy!

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“Matt!” Alex yelled as his foot tapped against the apartment door. “Matt!”

Alex waited for an answer after he yelled, and could only hope Matt was even home at this time. Alex wasn’t in bad shape, but Victoria’s weight had begun to weigh his arms down considerably.

He walked here barefoot too, which was a pain he’d not felt before. Broken glass bottles and hidden boards with nails in the grass be damned.

He’d hoped she’d wake up on the way here and be just fine, but that never happened. She was still breathing harshly, and her forehead felt like a hot stove to the touch.

Alex was ready to hit the door again with his bare feet, but stopped when he heard the lock being moved around from behind the door.

The door opened slowly to reveal Siri in pajamas, small kitten faces stitched into them across the cloth. Her chest was also slightly revealed, which drew Alex’s eyes toward it inadvertently.

“Muh.” Siri stated with eyes half closed. “Brother?”

“Uh… no, it’s Alex.” He stated as her figure swayed slightly. “Can i come in?”

“Muh.” She turned and walked away from the door, which Alex hoped meant ‘go ahead.’ He entered the apartment and closed the door behind him awkwardly, and sat Victoria down on the couch in the living room nearby. He turned around to look for Siri, unsure as to where she had run off to.

He decided to wait near the couch and checked on Victoria every now and then. Her state hadn’t become much worse than it had been till now, which at least wasn’t a bad sign.

When she took a turn for the worse would be when he’d freak out.

Siri arrived from the back of the apartment from what was likely her bedroom. She was fully dressed in her usual long black skirt and frilly white shirt, but her face was tinged with a blush. She seemed embarrassed about something, but he didn't have time for any small talk.

“Is grandma Belinda here?” Alex asked Siri as soon as she was in the same room. “Victoria’s in a weird state.”

Siri walked over to the couch and leaned in to look at Victoria. The blush across her face faded and her eyes hardened, which Alex hoped wasn’t a bad sign.

“Not here.” Siri stated. “-but can call her.”

She walked toward the back again and arrived back with a phone to her ear, the dial tone barely audible in the quiet apartment.

“Grandma. Is urgent. Need you here.” Was all she stated, and then hung up the phone after the other side said something he couldn’t catch. He’d ask how that was all she needed to say, but knew both her and Belinda were the eccentric type.

Siri moved over to the couch and crouched on one knee. She looked at Victoria’s face closely, placed her hand on her forehead, and then huffed.

She stood back up and walked over to Alex, and began to push his back toward the door.

“What are you-”

“Need space.” She stated. “Get naked. Check for wounds.”

Siri slammed the door behind Alex and locked it, likely ready to strip Victoria.

“Uh, ok then...” Alex stated to himself. “Guess i’ll just go outside with no shoes on.”

He heard some rustling from inside the apartment and then saw two pairs of house shoes fall out of the mail slot. He sat down and cleaned his feet off, and removed a shard of glass from his left foot that bled a bit. When the bleeding calmed down, he slipped on the house shoes with a cringe from the pain, but was thankful just to not feel the rough carpet of the hallway anymore.

He sighed as he walked back out of the apartment hallway, and into the cool morning air. Every exhale sent a plume of smoke into the night air, and for once he thought to pick up smoking as a hobby. The stress of recent events had begun to take a toll on his body, and he needed an outlet of relief.

---

Alex had gone back to the door to check on the situation several times, but Siri seemed too occupied to answer it; either that, or it could be worse than he thought.

The morning air had started to annoy Alex now as his body shivered with every new breath. The sun had begun to light the surroundings by the time a black van pulled up into the parking lot. It hadn’t been that long of a wait as he had felt it was, as his phone displayed that only thirty minutes had passed.

A large man with a scar across his forehead left the vehicle first, followed by another man and a woman. The scar man opened the remaining door and out hopped Belinda, her back hunched and a cane in hand. Her wrinkled face broke into a smile as Alex met her eyes, and she began to saunter over to him slowly.

“My, my.” She stated as she looked Alex up and down. “How much you’ve grown, child. How long has it been, ten- no, eleven years?”

She opened her frail arms in a hug, which Alex stepped forward awkwardly and received. She was stronger than he originally thought she was as the hug squeezed the breath out of him.

“Th-Thirteen, actually.” Alex stated as belinda let go of him. “I think.”

“Thirteen years...” She stated, her eyes glazed over in reminiscence. “How the time flies... and you've gotten so tall and toned, as well.”

Alex waited awkwardly for Belinda to move, but she seemed a little out of it. Her security detail just stood there with shades over their eyes, so Alex couldn’t tell if they were even alive.

“Grandma.” Alex stated. “I’d like for this to be a better time, but Victoria’s health isn’t that good.”

“Oh, sorry.” She stated, and then her eyebrow cocked in question. “Who?”

“Grandma. Need help.” He heard Siri state nearby, and realized she had come out of the apartment when she heard the van pull up. Her breath was haggard and several scars lined her face, and a strange black liquid seemed to be splattered on her clothes. Belinda went quiet for a bit and then sauntered toward the apartment behind Siri, who rushed back toward it as well.

Only the scarred man stayed behind with Alex, who was left by the group that entered the apartment. Alex hadn’t seen him before, but it had been thirteen or more years since he’d been at the Einar mansion. He eyed the scarred man that hadn’t moved, and then decided to get out of the cold and into the apartment.

When he reached the apartment door, he noticed that the scarred man had followed him in silently and stood guard at the only exit out of the hallway. Alex felt it awkward to just stand next to the apartment door, so instead he sat down and leaned against the wall, his ears focused for any sounds he could catch.

“My, my.” He heard Belinda’s voice, muffled by the door and hard to make out. “She really pushed herself, hm?”

“Yes. needle in leg.” He heard Siri state.

“Hm… She was poisoned by it then?” He heard Belinda muse. “Her clan should have taught her better than to move with such a thing affecting her.”

‘Wait...she was poisoned this whole time?’ Alex thought to himself, and cursed at his own inability. ‘...I knew i should've taken her to the hospital, even if we are being hunted.’

“Ah, i’ve seen this before.” She stated, and he heard a small clank of metal on metal. “Ranged dart used for killing the target silently. Seems she fought one of the ‘Orb-Weaver’s’.”

‘Wait...what?’ Alex couldn’t tell how that was possible, or even what an ‘Orb-Weaver’ was. ‘I could've sworn she fought an Amazonian though...’

“Hm, dangerous sorts they are. The poison itself usually kills the target quickly, so she’s quite lucky to have survived this long.”

‘...What the hell?’