As Neo was throwing on his flannel and slipping his shoes over his feet, Christopher was standing against the door, his arms crossed. He had two bags, one over his shoulder and the other on the floor. When Neo - antsy and unsettled - walked over to him, he picked up the second bag and handed it over.
"Here," Christopher said. "A pack of clothes and food Daileth helped prepare. If you even eat…"
Neo glanced at the bag, then took it up and slung it over his shoulder. As they walked out, Christopher gave a few comforting pats and words to the servants and nodded to the guards. Neo attempted to avert his eyes from every demon they passed, more or less keeping his gaze straight ahead. No doubt they blamed him for the kidnapping of their queen and master, but he tried not to dwell on it.
When he stepped out of the castle, he didn't look back - he had no reason to. Christopher stayed back for a moment, whispering something to the guard captain; Kyrana. She nodded and saluted before he walked down the steps after Neo, who was waiting impatiently. Finally, they moved to the car, which was a black sedan. Neo got into the comfortable shotgun side while Christopher climbed into the driver's seat.
They both threw their bags in the back before Christopher started the car up, popping it into drive before pulling out of the castle's front garden. Venturing through London, Neo stared out the side window. Some demons had said her scent trail ended around a certain place, so that was where they were headed. Neo could recognise some of the places he knew from years ago, but there were a few which were different.
They parked in some street next to a couple of stores - that was the area where they lost track of her. Some kind of shopping district but Neo didn't recognise much that was still there. Except, of course, an old antique shop squashed between two stores. It had been there forever, at least thirty years, and that was older than him.
He felt a glance in his direction from Christopher before his voice of ice pierced his ears. "Why don't we take a look around, ask a few questions? We can figure out if anyone saw anything weird."
"Sure," Neo grunted, immediately opening the car door.
"I meant together," He snapped, but Neo still got out of the vehicle.
"No thanks," He answered, slamming the door.
Neo didn't look back at him as he headed straight for the only familiar store in sight - the antique shop. He could hear Christopher get out of the car as well, but no name was called after him as he stepped inside the building. The shopkeeper standing behind the cash register turned - a grown blond male with a refined goatee. He smiled in Neo's direction, already waving before he stopped and raised an eyebrow.
"Hel-!" Was the start of his sentence before he paused. "Hold on… Neo? Is that you, mate?"
"Yeah, it's me," He answered, sighing as he walked up, hands in his pockets. "Hey, Henry."
"Geez, lad," The Scottish man said in bafflement. "Been a while, hasn't it?" He rubbed his chin hairs, frowning. "You look a bit thin. You eatin' good?"
"Yes, Henry," Neo rolled his eyes, leaning on the counter. "Stop mumming me, I have a few questions."
"Questions, eh?" Henry mused, grinning as he crossed his arms. "Well, I may or may not have answers, depending on the price…" When Neo simply stared at him, he guffawed. "Just messin' with ya, what d'ya need?"
"I'm looking for someone," He started. "A girl - about eighteen, purple-ish braids, dark skin… about yay high," He motioned with his hand. "She might've been accompanied by a peculiar beast - or person."
Henry was one to delve into the occult, so Neo had no problem sharing the rather strange information with him. At the mention of a beast, his eyebrows went up, then the man smiled. He brushed his chin again rather carefully, as if afraid to harm his precious goatee hairs, but then put up a finger.
"I could've heard something," Henry mused - he was always so playful with important information. "A scaly beast with bat wings, for instance. Sound familiar?" Neo hummed in agreement. "Problem is, I recognise the girl, too. You're looking for the new queen, aren't ya?"
Neo narrowed his eyebrows. "Just tell me where she is."
"I don't know where she is," The man shrugged. "But somethin' was making quite a ruckus out in the street last night. Might be worth checking the other stores." Then the door's bell rang, and he glanced up with a wave. "Hello, there! Welcome to-"
The rest was lost to the wind as a dagger plunged straight through his chest, thrown right over Neo's head. Henry coughed, sputtering as he stumbled back with a choked gasp. Neo stood up straight quickly, then whirled around to face the door in panic. A hooded figure waved with a giggle and disappeared with a flurry of black powder.
Neo glanced behind him, to Henry as he collapsed, before running at the door. He flung it wide, searching the street with his eyes and finding two important notable figures. The same man in the black hoodie at the edge of an alley right next to him, and Christopher looking up curiously from across the street. The princeling was in the middle of questioning a young couple.
"Nathan?" His companion said curiously, apparently noticing the alarm in his eyes.
"Civilian injured!" He said quickly, pointing at the store. "Go help!"
With that, he ran towards the other figure, who sneered and disappeared into the thin alleyway. He could hear Christopher yelling behind him, but he didn't stop. Neo pushed past a man, quickly apologising before returning to his pursuit. Finally, he reached the alley, and he sharply turned to enter it. However, the assailant was gone, leaving Neo alone in the narrow street as he breathed heavily.
"You are persistent, aren't you?"
Neo whipped around, looking up at the voice he heard, finding the masked figure sitting on the railing of a balcony above him. They had on a completely black outfit - boots, pants, hoodie - except for the white kitsune mask on his face. Neo grit his teeth as he recognised the tone. The same voice that had assaulted him and Quilliene in the abandoned warehouse, and the one who spoke to him at the castle window. It had to be another spell of some sort.
"Where is she?" Neo scowled.
"Straight to business, I see," He laughed. "I told you to stay out of the way. This is none of your concern."
"You made it my business when you took her," Neo growled, searching for a way up with his eyes.
"Very well, then. Here," The man took a folded and cut up newspaper from inside his jacket, tossing it down.
Neo scrambled to catch it before it hit a puddle, looking up sharply as he did. Alas, the man was gone, leaving only a wonder of how he disappeared so fast. Neo looked at the paper, unfolding it twice before reading the headline. Bombing in the Tuplia Square Takes Three Lives and Leaves Four Injured.
After a few minutes, he stepped out of the alleyway, finding police and an ambulance already at the scene back at the antique shop. Christopher was finishing off showing his identification card to get away from the ordeal before he walked over to Neo, giving him a death glare. However, when he apparently caught sight of the look on Neo's face, it softened when he arrived by his side.
"What happened?" Christopher asked.
"He came," Neo explained. "Threw a dagger at my informant-"
"Informant?"
"-and proceeded to give me this." Neo showed him the paper.
Christopher glanced it over, frowning. "Another attack he did a while ago. His first one, I do believe. I think he wants us to go there."
"Yeah, no shit," He mumbled, getting a glare in return. "The question is why."
"Because he's leaving us a paper trail," He sighed. "This is all just a damned game to him."
A game… the thought brought a tense feeling to Neo's chest. He glared at the ground, grinding his teeth in rage. Following Christopher back to the car, he had a hard time containing his anger long enough to let out a long and heavy sigh behind the prince. Finally, they got in the vehicle, driving off carefully past the scene.
Neo could feel Christopher's annoyance, as well, but neither of them spoke. They knew what they had to do, and that was to find the queen - and if that meant working together for the moment to do it, that was what they were going to do. Of course, that didn't mean either of them were happy about the ordeal.