Self Seclusion

Days passed after she hunted him and locked herself in her brother's apartment which was expertly hidden that's the cloaking runes that were engraved on the frame of the front door and all over the building itself. She wasn't wallowing in self-pity but rather by the tidal wave of guilt because she was so careless which caused her blood to be quickly taken. She didn't drink or eat, answer her phone, or the apartment's phone. She blocked everything out wondering if she should leave the city and go somewhere new.

Preferably a place without anyone interested in the study of blood which technically would be a rare find. She knew that her friends would be busy building a case and analyzing the evidence that they may have already found as their priority even though they want to locate her first.

It was a shock when the workers at the morgue found the body that night on their last rounds. They didn't waste time analyzing and dissecting the body after making the initial report. They reported it to Professor Jones who was pleasantly surprised. After they arrested Sharon she easily confessed what she did without being asked.

After her confession, the board of the F.A.U decided that Astrid should decide what happens to her if they could find her. Ralph thought that she'd fled from the city but that wasn't the case since her things were still at James's place and Ollie was with him if she remembered correctly. He was restless since he hasn't seen her for days since they'd always been together.

"Have you found her?" Vic asked Ralph as he entered the meeting room.

"Nothing." He responds by sinking tiredly into a nearby chair and rubbing a hand tiredly over his face. They both look as though they haven't rested enough in the past few days along with the other members of the team. They managed to get a hold of her scent in the slums and at the morgue and thinned out after a few streets before leading them to a cute cat-themed cafe.

"How did you two meet?" Vic asks.

For the past few days, they've become acquainted with each other and learned that they have things in common in terms of personality and balance each other out.

"We met accidentally then again online." Ralph responds with a soft smile as a wave of nostalgia overtakes him.

"To be more specific, I approached her first." He said laughing.

"Was it that bad?" Vic asked and Ralph let out a contagious laugh nodding his head.

"She was sipping her chai tea and I was struck by inspiration. I approached her and asked if she could permit me to draw her. She glared at me annoyed and left a half-full cup and an untouched muffin with Ollie walking beside her." Ralph said remembering the scene.

"I found her the next day in the same spot and approached once again but she threw a full jug's worth of water at me instead of allowing me to speak before she left but Ollie wasn't with her that time." Ralph said. Vic snickered imaging the scene and knowing Astrid's temperament for meeting new people, he knew it was true.

"It was like that for at least two and a half weeks before I managed to get her to listen to my request and ask my question." Ralph said.

"What was her response?" Vic asked interested in hearing the rest of the story.

"Well, she said I was like an annoying bug that she couldn't get rid of before sitting still for me to paint her." Ralph said chuckling lightly.

"After I painted her and won the competition that the cafe was holding, she disappeared. It was like she was never there in the first place until a few years later, I started talking to someone under the alias Azela and it turned out to be her." Ralph said coming out of the memory.

"Her ever calm yet distant manner is what attracted me to her." Ralph said and Vic nodded in agreement. Professor Jones and James enter the room with hopeful expressions but it disappeared when they saw Ralph's tired face.

"No luck?" Jones asks.

"No." Ralph responds.

"Where are you, Astrid?" James asks mumbling to himself meanwhile back at her brother's apartment, she has an inkling that she's being watched but doesn't sense hostility from it so she doesn't bother to check it out as she heads to bed, turning the ac unit to it's coldest before she doeses off.