HUNTED

Not long after returning to the packhouse with the vampires and rogue in toll did Beta Kane and the other warriors arrive. Kane reported to Damon immediately, taking in the sight of the vampires in the living room in which Damon stood among. Luther sat next to him while Vinnie appeared to be on guard like the musclehead he seemed to be.

The Beta looked warily at Gabriel, looking relatively comfortable on the sofa with his arms spread against the back, his ankle crossed over his knee and a drink in one hand. "That is definitely Gabriel, right? Not the brother?" Kane mind-linked Damon after finishing his report that they couldn't find anything. 

Gabriel chuckled darkly and glared at the Beta. "I am NOT my brother." 

Damon refrained from sighing; the vampire's mind-reading was getting old. But nothing they mind-linked each other would be private, so they might as well speak aloud. 

Esme, who was leaning against the wall behind Gabriel, glanced in Kane's direction, eying him; Gabriel turned his head slightly as though they were in the middle of a conversation. 

"No, if you were, you wouldn't be sitting there right now," Damon muttered in annoyance. "Kane, you may finish for the night." Gabriel raised a brow at the Alpha's response but did not say anything, most likely so another fight would not break out.

"And we know just how much he likes his suits," Darius growled in his mind. 

Kane did not move from Damon's side even after his suggestion to call it a night. "Have the warriors at least gone to rest?" He asked his Beta. Kane nodded and crossed his arms, his sharp eyes fixed on the vampires. Even though they'd worked together before, there was still some tension in the air. If it wasn't for Aila, then they would not be meeting under these circumstances.

"Will you at least sit down?" Luther spoke up, rubbing his jaw as he looked at not only Damon and Kane standing but Chiara and Finn, who also assumed a defensive position. It was only Ajax, as usual, who seemed to relax and mirror Gabriel's seated position, but he was holding onto Chiara's sleeve, tugging at it for her to sit next to him. 

"It's rude acting like we are going to gobble you all up," Luther continued with a frustrated sigh. 

Damon nodded and watched as Chiara relented and sat down next to Ajax, and much to the shapeshifter's annoyance, her gaze was still on Esme. Damon understood, though, it was rogues who killed her mate, and Esme, although she was not the one to do it, having her presence here was making her agitated. If she was not protected by Gabriel or him, then Chiara would probably kill her. 

Finn continued to stand as Damon expected, while Kane sat next to Chiara, though his back was still straight and he did not look comfortable. Damon leaned his hip into the side of the wall, crossing his arms as he looked between Gabriel and Luther. "Better?" He asked, and the vampires smirked, making him want to lunge at them again. 

"What did you have to do that made us wait so long outside the gates?" Gabriel asked, tapping his finger against the armrest. 

"You're acting like you were bored? Wasn't Esme causing havoc for my pack?" Damon shot back. 

On the walk back to the packhouse, Chiara filled him in on how she'd been running after Esme. The rogue was a professional at hiding, and even his Gamma had trouble finding her. He was annoyed with Esme; she'd made his pack nervous at a time when he was not there, their Luna was still missing, and some of their best warriors and trackers were also gone for the day.

But he did marvel at her a little. One tiny she-wolf like her did this, and she had been right. Esme also filled him in on the weak parts of his pack's defences while everyone had been getting settled in the living room. 

"Yes, but you gained something from her chaos, correct?" Gabriel replied with a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Damon stared at the vampire for a moment before glancing at Esme, who seemed a lot more confident than the last time, he'd seen her. "Now, am I correct in assuming that you had a lead today on Aila's whereabouts?"

Damon's chest tightened even though he knew his chances of finding her today were slim; he couldn't help but have some of his hope being crushed. "Chase phoned me this morning. He said the hunters went to Qina, only two returned, reporting that two vampires with white hair were the ones to kill them all. Can you actually help, or are you wasting my time?" Damon asked; his gaze had darkened the longer he looked at Gabriel, so he forced himself to look away. 

He really wanted to punch him again. Once was not enough.

"Qina? Near Maine.." Gabriel straightened and shook his head with a chuckle. "Damon, you silly Alpha-" Damon pushed off the wall, growling, unable to control his temper again after another day without his mate. 

"Instead of being so impatient this morning, you should have told me," Gabriel ignored Damon's bristling form. The Alpha paused for a moment, sensing the excitement in the vampire's features. "I have a castle in Maine."

"I sent some of our warriors to check out Maine; they never sighted any castles," Kane spoke up, leaning forwards now, as he stared at Gabriel. 

Gabriel smirked, "That's because it has a spell on it."

Damon blanked at what the vampire just said, then he was reminded of the location spells Aila's mum had been trying to cast daily until she fainted from fatigue. 

"Is this spell powerful enough to hide a person's location as well?" He asked, his curiosity piqued at the new turn of events. Darius was also now pacing impatiently at the edges of his mind, listening intently to what Gabriel was about to say. 

"Yes. I got Einar to cast the spell when the castle first was built. No one is more powerful than that warlock," Gabriel replied confidently. 

"This is what I mean; you could have saved this torturous hell I have been living in the last month and told us this shit from the start," Damon growled, slamming the side of his fist into the wall he was leaning against again. The wall shook, and some of the paint cracked and crumbled to the floor. 

"Even if I was there from the start, we might still be searching now. Don't underestimate how much money we have; I have more castles, villas and penthouses than I can count on my fingers and toes. Not all of them have spells on, but the one in Maine in particular does." 

Was he bragging or just making a point? 

"Anyway, I still would keep an open mind. Cassius could be leading you into a trap, maybe to try and rid you forever-"

"Can we not use Einar to remove the spell?" Esme spoke up from her spot against the wall, interrupting the white-haired vampire.

Damon frowned at her suggestion. "Is he still alive then?" He didn't know enough about witches to determine if they were immortals like vampires.

Esme nodded. "I could call in a favour-"

"No!" Gabriel snapped, turning his head to look at the rogue. "I don't want to owe him any more favours."

"Then can you get us to the castle?" Damon asked though he was very curious about this warlock. Gabriel made him sound like that Brother's Grimm villain, Rumplestiltskin.

Gabriel turned back to face him, settling his glass down on the coffee table. "Of course.. I know it like the back of my hand."