Ares' POV

It takes me forty minutes to get to the corner of Fifth and Hell, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as I let the familiar but distant emotions roll over me.

     Anger.

     Loss.

     Pain.

      I pull my car to a parking spot that lines the street and lock the car, keeping my head on a swivel as I enter the abandoned building. I bypass the locked on door, hands in my pockets as I head to the corner where a stack of trash is placed.

      I feel the first smile all day come to my lips as I move a tin sheet aside and come across one of many in my collection. My aluminum bat slides in my hand perfectly as I replace the tin sheet. I swing the weapon in my hold, listening to the way it whistles just a bit in the air. I turn my body and head the rest of the way into the broken down apartment building.

     I go down a long dingy hallway until I reach another door which I open, revealing a large garden courtyard in the middle of the old structure. Here I found a bunch of couches, and tables with questionable weapons. This used to be the spot back when I was running the streets, planning every game and enjoying my immunity in a neighborhood that knows no bounds.

     As I come closer to the makeshift lounge area, I find a body sprawled across the couch lazily, picking his fingers with his knife he got last year form his girlfriend. He looks up as I round the couch and smirks at me.

     "So, the king returns." He says, sitting up to tap my hand with his own and I shake my head at his words.

     "Not king anymore, Mace." I tell him, plopping down on the chair beside the couch, leaning back and my legs widen. My foot instantly begins bouncing as I wait impatiently for the others to come and of course he notices.

     "What makes a retired king come back into the game?" He asks, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he looks at me. I turn my gaze to him, tilting my head to the side.

      "Does one need a reason?" I ask him, voice as flat and blank as it used to be, my body falling back into the routine I picked up all those years ago. For safety and then by habit.

      "No." He admits shrugging as he leans back into the cushions. He points the tip of the knife at me and squints. "But you do." Before I can answer, I hear a double toned whistle come from our left and I turn my head to see Q and Bones coming towards us, gait lazy as they cross the expanse of the courtyard.

     "Look who decided to come pay us a visit." Q drawls in his southern accent, his adoptive parents bringing him from down south a couple years ago to start a new life up here. You can't take the daemon out of the Enchanted, but it seems like they'll continue to try.

      "Oh we all know this isn't a social call." Says a voice and I look over to see Prince and Satan coming down the same hallway I did, the door closing behind them as they make their way over. I don't answer anyone as they all take a seat, either on the cushions on the ground or the mis matched chairs that are scattered around.

They all turn to me expectedly and I look them each in the eye, remembering how they alway had my back when the situation called for illegal activities and hoping they still have it here when it comes to my kitten.

Though it sucks that I had to come back to this part of my life when my new family is supposed to be the one standing behind me.

"Word around here has probably spread so I'll keep this part short: I found my Lock. Well, my Lock found me." I add on the last sentence with a twitch of my lips, though it's a sad one as they react.

"Yeah. I heard it was a snow bunny with a fat ass." Mace says with a smirk. "What's her name?" He asks and the question makes me chuckle.

"All very true. His name is Thomas." I tell them and there's a bunch of raised eyebrows around the group but no one says anything to me, like I knew they wouldn't. No one here is judgmental, just very very surprised by the turn of events. I ignore their looks and continue on, needing to get the talking part over with so we can move on to my favorite part... action. Right as I'm about to speak, I here the sound of someone else coming down the hallway, and all of our backs straighten until we see who it is.

"I thought you were at work." I tell him with a grin and Zay rolls his eyes as he hops over the back of Mace's couch to plop down in the seat.

"Told them I was sick. You sounded like a angry kicked puppy so here I am." He tells me and I roll my eyes at him before turning back to the group.

"Thomas and I got into it this afternoon. He left the house to cool down, and never came back. My kitten wouldn't just disappear and I got this bad painful feeling in my body about three hours ago. His friends don't believe me but I think Thomas is in trouble." I tell them and Bones is the first to speak up, her head tilted back to look at the evening sky before it falls back down to stare at me.

      "He wouldn't run away?" She asks me, her raspy voice exciting to hear after so long. They way she asks it isn't condescending or dismissive like the rest of those people, just curious, taking notes in her head so she knows where to start.

      "No. Not from Ares." It's Zay who answers, his usually open face scrunched up in a frown. "No, I saw them together. That boy was in love with Ares even if he didn't know it. If he left it was only to breathe. He would have come back."

     I nod my head in agreement. "Thomas is a newly alive vampire which means his emotions are everywhere but they fizzle out quickly. He should have been home by now but he's not." I tell them urgently. I pick my bat off the ground where it was leaning against the arm and place it in my lap. "I may have fucked up, but I'll be damned if I let someone touch or harm whats mine."

      "If you think he's gone, then he's gone. And I'll help you find him." I turn my head in surprise towards Bones. She's a girl of few words, only speaking when she has no other choice so this... this means she believes me. The rest of the group nods before Satan tilts his head.

      "Who would you think would take him?" He asks and I blow my cheeks out as I think, trying my best to make any connections.

       "I don't know. I've been out of the game so long, I don't think anyone would try to get me for that." I say and Q cringes.

     "As much as you've been out the game, it still loves you. You hold all the records and will continue to hold the crown until it's broken." He tells me and the news breaks my heart. Fuck.

     Fuck.

      "It could be anybody." I say and there's a collective silence that goes around until I shake my head. "It doesn't matter though. I'm going to find him, no matter how long it takes." I tell them and I stand up, gripping my bat in my right hand, the familiar coolness of the aluminum making me smile, if only a little.

     I watch with pride and a bit relief as everyone follows me until they're standing up as well, facing me expectedly. I turn on my heel and make my way to the north side of the building, climbing through a broken window, the glass crunching beneath my boots as the rest of them follow behind me, knowing where I'm going.

     I turn to the right and go up the stairs behind the door at the end of the hall, only reaching the second floor before we exit the stairwell. Three doors down to the right is room 264, the same one we've been using for years when things are about to get especially...nasty. Mace hands me his knife, pressing the blade into my palm, and I use the sharpe edge to press the secret button between the door and the frame that allows the door to click and pop open. I hold it open so that the rest can slip in beside me and move to the table in the middle of the room. There's a sun powered light sitting there that I click on, letting the room light up in its wake.

     On the walls are maps of the city, everything from Faerie territory to the Hybrids next door to us. There's notes and strings attached to the maps, telling us favorite hiding spots, which groups own what streets and everything else you need to know in order to come out on top every time.

      I turn my attention away from them and step to the table a that has any, silent weapon you can think of. Although our species are one of the most violent, theres lines that even we don't cross, one of them being guns. How a species bred for violence can have more self control than humans I will never understand, but hey. What do I know?

    Q, Mace, Satan, Zay, Bones and Prince, all come around the table, looking up at me as I press my palm flat against it and lean into the wood.

     "Now. Let's begin."

~~~~~~~~~
DADDY ARES IS BACK AND IM HERE FOR IT. I just KNOW all of his friends are fine and watching them trash the city as they look for Thomas is going to be.... yum.

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QOTD: How was Chan's sneak peak?