A few days had passed since the town of Hunrel set off on their journey. There was no sign of Lorcan or Colt. The only thing Elaine had to go off of was Viktor supposedly seeing Lorcan at the last place they made camp. That was miles away from where they were now.

Night drew on, the faeries had finished eating supper, which, happened to be the last of their food. They expected to arrive in the town next over, Garned, in the morning.

Viktor sat down beside Elaine. "I'm officially a faery now, I assume?"

"I do not know. I don't know why your body went into that fit, either. That didn't happen when I got my wings," Elaine explained while scooting away from him, "Stay away from me."

She wasn't comfortable being stuck in the tent with Viktor. The positive was he rarely stayed in it long and preferred to roam around the settlement. Viktor yawned, and after a moment, made his own comment.

"I suppose it was odd."

His gaze traveled above Elaine's shoulders as he narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

"Show me your wings."

"No. You do not get to command me around. You already saw them," she retorted, "What makes you think I'll obey you?"

"It would seem you are both selfish and naive. I can see why Colt likes you. You deny being controlled, but you are easy to manipulate!" Viktor chuckled. His eyes danced with mischief as he took in the disgust on Elaine's face. "What you want and believe is irrelevant. You are entirely stupid to consider you are nothing more than a means to an end, especially, to a demon. It's too bad he's hung up on his ego right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He ignored her inquiry. "How do I put these things away? I don't suppose I'm supposed to sleep with my wings unfurled," he muttered back.

He does not think before he speaks. He has no filter or emotional intelligence. At all. He's entirely unstable. It's only a matter of time until someone here notices he is not my brother, Elaine thought with a deepening frown.

She pursed her lips when Viktor wouldn't remain sitting still, and, for the second time since dinner, had managed to hit his wings against her face. Elaine tried to be patient, but it was hard to when she knew he was the one holding her family in limbo.

"Just imagine them disappearing!" she snapped back, "Close your eyes, it helps."

A few moments passed and he finally shut his eyes. After a couple minutes, he finally got them to disappear.

"Now that that's taken care of, we should get some sleep," Viktor announced while laying down, "Don't you think?"

Elaine thought his horrendous temper seemed to have vanished since he bloomed into a faery. She wondered if it was because of the exhaustion he endured while turning. Either that or it was all a pretense.

"I'm not sleeping in here with you!" she laughed coldly, "I already told you that. Now, either get out or I will!" 

"Won't someone get suspicious if they see you outside sleeping on the ground? They'll think something's up."

Elaine frowned as she stood up. "I honestly don't care. I've been in worse conditions."

"Fine, I'll go," Viktor scoffed while standing up and ruffling his hair. "It'll be warmer by the fire pit anyway," he finished with a sneer.

He stepped out of the tent and into the night.

Maybe, I should have just went myself. I hate to admit it, but I kind of feel guilty making him stay out in the cold. Since he turned, that's what he's been doing the last few days, Elaine thought to herself.

Even so, she settled back down on top of the soft blankets and stared blankly at the soft glow of the lamp above. Her thoughts drifted from her parents, to Lorcan and Colt, as her mind rambled on with various more worries.

How much time had passed since her alleged brother had left? The air was getting significantly colder. With a shudder, she rolled over onto her side facing the back of the tent. The shadows flickering across the lining of the tent eventually lured her to sleep despite the whirlwind of thoughts swirling around in her head.

The frosty grass crunched underneath Viktor's shoes as he marched into the dark practically blind due to the lack of decent light. The stringed lights above didn't provide much guidance around the endless clusters of tents. His only source of direction came from the dying glow of the fire in the center of the camp.

The lazy faeries didn't bother to keep it burning through the whole night. Figures. I could be the one that does. I've seen the glances aimed in my direction. I need to keep my act up, Viktor thought.

He was standing now in front of the fire pit. He nearly jumped back when he caught sight of a small silhouette on the other side of the burning light. Viktor was more surprised by the fact he hadn't sensed another being around. Something was off about this one.

"You're Elaine's brother," the short fae said nervously, "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, I am. I could ask you same, couldn't I?"

The last thing Viktor expected was some brat to chat him up the entire night. Even demons needed their sleep, eventually.

"Why are you out here? Why aren't you with your sister?" the child shot back.

"She snores," he answered shortly. The demon noted the child was no easy fool. "Now, tell me why you are out here."

"I don't have to tell you anything!" the child answered, "You're awfully close to the coals. Aren't you afraid of getting burned?"

"No...I'm a special kind of faery," he answered vaguely. He withdrew his hands from the warmth of the glow and put on a fake smile. "Fire doesn't burn me. I'll take fire duty off your hands. Return to bed. Your family is probably worried," he urged Mason while pushing him off the log seat.

"Hey! Don't push me around, I'm telling your sister."

He scurried away from the fire pit looking up at the glowering man.

When the child began walking away toward the tents, Viktor thought he had won. However, Mason stopped in his tracks and let out a holler for all the faeries asleep to hear.

He was pointing his finger at something across the campsite. "Ghost! G-ghost! Look!"

Viktor ran over and muffled his yells. Then, he glanced around quickly and thought himself lucky none of the faeries had left their tents to see what the yell was from.

"Silence! What are you screaming about?" Viktor asked Mason angrily, "There is no emergency!"

With strength Viktor didn't understand, Mason ripped his hand away with a frustrated grunt and took a deep breath. 

"I saw s-someone in a white outfit. They were all the way at the edge of the woods."

"A silly hallucination. Now, go to your tent or I'll tell your parents you were up and about when you were supposed to be asleep," Viktor threatened.

The child obeyed Mason stumbled his way toward a tent and went inside. Viktor stood there a moment to make sure the child didn't come back out. He didn't know if he had any patience left. There was something odd about the annoying brat. If he caught Mason following him again, he wouldn't bother holding back his anger.

Out of boredom, he glanced to where the child had been looking. As expected, it was in the direction of Elaine's tent. If he wanted to keep the fire burning he was going to have to get more wood. So, he thought he might as well take a look for himself.

Eventually, he made it to the edge of the camp and passed the last two rows of tents. He came across the tent Elaine was sleeping in. After taking a look inside the tent, he found his assumption correct after all.

It was empty.

He grabbed the lamp inside of the tent and stomped back outside looking into the woods. Seeing nothing but trees, he continued walking away from the camp and deeper into the woods. He was keeping an eye out for the 'ghost' while picking up firewood.

After flying over a small stream, Viktor believed he pretty much had the flying thing down for the most part. He decided he had enough of walking and took off from the ground again flying above the large old trees.

Thanks to the lantern, he avoided slamming into the ancient trees and swiftly made his way through the woods while managing to not drop the wood he had already picked up. Seeing nothing of interest, he turned around and began to make his way back toward where he came. However, he caught a glimpse of something white up in a tree branch below.

Floating downward, he found Elaine nestled up on a tree branch seemingly sound asleep.

What is she doing all the way here? It must have been an escape attempt, Viktor thought.

He got a faint whiff of her intoxicating cherry and honey scent. He barely noticed the firewood fall from his arms as he landed on the branch on which she slept.

Viktor loomed over Elaine's sleeping form. Her wings moved back and forth slightly as they were unfurled now. Her long hair dangled past the tree branch she rested on and her pink wings were glowing, illuminating her face. The bottom of her white skirt was covered in dried mud and she wasn't even wearing shoes.

He thought now was supposed to be the time he fulfill his brotherly role and take her back to camp where the rest of the sleeping faeries were, but if she were to wake up she would only find some way to blame her predicament on him he thought.

He would just consider this as her thank you to him even though he was doing it without her consent. As far as he knew, he was still a demon at heart and wanted to make sure Colt would not only suffer physically when he got to hell, but, mentally, too.

Her soft breathing was a simple reminder that she was conveniently asleep. It was not like he was even attracted to her. He just wanted to see the look on Colt's face when he told him what he had done.

He set the lantern down on the edge of the tree branch. Then, he bent down to her eye-level and leaned in toward her face. The kiss was quick. He was pulling away shortly after. Elaine shivered from the cold in her sleep. It was only a matter of time until she woke up. 

Viktor was more happier than ever knowing Colt would be enraged when he found out he had kissed Elaine. Better yet, before Colt even had the chance to!

Viktor found nothing of value in her except for the glittering substance that came off her lips when he pulled away. He had ingested it before registering what had happened. He was certain it was hers, but he really didn't know what it actually was. It tasted like the best candy he ever had. It tasted addicting. He was beginning to think she really did perform witchcraft on him.

It intrigued him more than he liked. He yearned to return to hell to finish things with Colt, but the faery realm was freeing in a way he had not anticipated.

Something told him Elaine knew this herself. In her waking hours, she seemed less afraid of him now. Was it right to continue to use her and dispose of her when finished? He didn't know, but he was unsettled by the fact that he was contemplating how much he should care.

In a hurried manner, he scooped her up. He was about to fly back to the camp when he saw Mason hovering in mid-air beside him. Viktor's face grew dark red on the pesky child as rage was begging to escape.

Mason was largely unaware of the danger hovering literally right in front of him. He heard a purring sound, that was hard to ignore, resonating from the man who was holding Elaine. It sounded like a growl. A warning. Why was he doing a mating call on her? Mason had no idea, but he covered his mouth wondering if the creepy man had lied about his relationship with her.

Elaine wasn't reciprocating the noise. She remained asleep. Mason knew they were not officially mated like his parents were. They certainly shouldn't have been mated as they were supposedly siblings.

"What are you doing?" the child blurted out, "I saw you kiss her!"

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