"Your mother's an idiot." Alette's half-brother said as he crossed the room gracefully to sit in the chair across from her and lean forward, elbows on his knees, pretty blue eyes on hers. "I'm telling you. You should just come live with us. We would let you be what you really are." He said, glancing towards their father for support.
"Your brother's right." Her father said, watching her with interest from the chair beside her half-brother's.
They did this every time. Alette would sneak out of the Institute to come see her father and her half-brother at the hotel, behind her mother's back, spend an hour or so listening to them bash on her mother, and then leave suddenly. Now was the time to leave suddenly. "She's not an idiot." Alette said towards her half-brother. "And he's not my brother." She said to her father. "Anyway, I have to go before someone notices I'm gone."
"Don't be stupid, your mother's working. No one will notice you're gone." Her father said, looking up at her as she stood from her chair.
That was true. A lot had gone amiss in the Shadow World lately, and the Clave needed her mother. Seeing as she had an institute to run, her mother couldn't just get up and fly to Idris, but she'd locked herself in her office for the past week, and was communicating with them holographically, able to send a holographic form of herself there so she could speak with them.
With a shrug, she looked at her father before crossing to the door, ignoring his comment and taking off. She didn't want to spend another minute with them. She was afraid they might be able to convince her if she did. Instead, she slipped her leather jacked back on and made her way down the street, glamour in place so that humans couldn't see her.
Her walk brisk, she made her way towards the Vonderman household. The house of her Parabatai. Her mother had told her never to go there, as had Portia, and Mr. Vonderman, but she had been doing it continually for the past two years anyway. She was curious about Winni, and wanted to see how much she knew, and how much her family knew about what she knew. Portia was smart, but she'd apparently failed to see the reason behind the girl's latest hobby of photography. She was starting to see things, and, according to Alette, it was about time someone starting telling her the truth. Mostly because it would cause mischief, and Alette was rather good at that, but partially because she would find out soon enough with so much unrest stirring in the Shadow World.
It wasn't long until Alette arrived outside the Vonderman household, and smiled wickedly as she made her way around to the side and slipped open a window near the stairs on the first floor, hopping up on the sill, and sliding in the other side, all without so much as a single rustling of the curtains.
Once inside, she made her way up the stairs silently and slipped into Winni's room. Her glamour was still on, so Winni wouldn't be able to see her if she was in there, but thankfully she wasn't, so Alette let her glamour drop and made her way over to Winni's bedside table, dropping a letter on it, which contents explained to her some of the weird things she's been seeing lately.
After dropping the letter, Alette took a moment to glance around the room from behind her shades before slipping out and making her way back downstairs towards the window.
However she didn't get very far before she heard a growl and someone grabbed the upper part of her arm painfully, forcing her to whirl around and face them. So close. She was so close to just slipping out undetected. The window was no more than a few feet away. "Portia." She smirked, looking straight into the eyes of the alpha female.
Portia woke to a buzzing alarm coming from the room next to hers. As a werewolf, her ears were extremely sensitive, and she didn't even need an alarm, as she always woke up to everyone else's. This one was Winni's. Her younger daughter's. Well, not exactly her daughter. Not by blood anyway, but Portia had raised her so she most definitely considered her her's.
Slowly, with a yawn, she sat up in bed and looked at the empty place next to her with slight sadness. Her husband was in Idris on business, hoping to put in a good word for the Downworlders, or, in the very least, the werewolves, and she was missing him every day he was gone. Yawning once more, Portia sat in bed and listened to Winni getting ready and leaving before standing up to get ready.
She crossed to the closet and flung it's double doors open, going through it's contents and selecting a simple pair of jeans, and a blue blouse.
After dressing, she brushed out her hair and braided it loosely behind her before heading down the stairs to the kitchen. Winni had gone out for a run, so she'd be back soon, and her other daughter was most likely still asleep, so she decided to start some breakfast after looking over Winni's note.
A moment later, Portia lifted her head suddenly from her consuming work of whipping pancake batter. There hadn't been a loud noise. Actually there'd hardly been any noise at all, but for a soft rustling, which, ordinarily, Portia would ignore if it hadn't been for the smell. Something, or someone, was in her house.
Instantly, Portia dropped the bowl and left the kitchen, turning the corner to find the window next to the stairs flung open and the smell stronger now. A Shadowhunter was in her house. When they'd opened the window to sneak in, the breeze had blown their scent towards her.
Portia hissed slightly. She hated most Shadowhunters. All they ever did was look down on Downworlders.
Without hesitation, Portia marched quickly, and quietly up the stairs, grabbing the arm of the Shadowhunter just as she was closing the door to Winni's room and dragging her roughly down the stairs.
"Portia." The girl smirked an infuriating smirk, and Portia snarled back.
"What are you doing here Alette?" She growled at the back of her throat. Unlike pretty much everyone else in the Shadow World, Portia refused to call the girl by that ridiculous nickname Fox. Partly because it wasn't her real name, but mostly because it irritated her, and Portia was more than happy to irritate Alette, as she found the girl's reckless bravado rather annoying. "I've told you a hundred times not to come here or I'll kill you. Maybe I'll do it this time." She hissed, eyes flashing with anger as she gripped the girl tighter and yanked her. "Tell me what you're doing here. You have to leave Winni alone."
"Calm down Downworlder," she said, causing Portia to growl slightly at the back of her throat. "I just came to check on Winni, but she's not here, so I was just leaving. You know, you could be a little nic-"
"Shut up." Portia cut her off. Another scent drifted towards her from the window. Winni's. She was coming home. And she was close. "She's coming back." She said to the girl as she shoved her towards the window. "Get out of here the way you came, and I swear to god, if you show up here again, I'll tear your throat out. I don't care what the Clave does to me."
Portia watched as Alette slipped back out the window and slid her glamour back on before running to the front of the house and throwing the door open, watching to make sure Alette wouldn't try to interact with Winni on her way back. "Winni!" She called, placing her hands on her hips. "You know you're not supposed to be out alone. Get your ass in this house now."