Author's Note: I'm finally back with chapter 4. I know it's been a while... Hehe, sorry about that.

“Where are we going?” I asked breathlessly, trotting behind Caden. It was quite difficult to keep pace with an angry tall person, I learned quickly. He had left my house in a rush after telling me he knew who the thief was, without clueing me in. At least he had used the door this time, instead of the window.

“Where do you think we’re going?” he replied irritably, “to get the doll from that pawn shop clerk…” his voice trailed off as he mumbled things I probably didn’t want to hear under his breath.

“Pawn shop clerk?” I asked dubiously.

“Yes, the pawn shop clerk,” he snapped, “That guy’s been trying to sell my mother’s doll for I don’t even know how long anymore. It’s worth a lot of money, and it’s worth only increases every decade. Drives that guy crazy.”

“If he’s trying to sell it, then why did he take it back from me?” I asked.

“He knows every time I come to get it, and he always takes it first. Don’t even ask me about him, I’m not in the mood to explain.”

I mulled silently over my new discovery of witch-cats, and wondered what else was possible in this crazy world I’d thought I understood. I heeded Caden’s advice, though, and didn’t ask about the pawn shop clerk.

Caden stopped abruptly, and I shook out of my reverie. I looked up to see him looking at me in wonder.

“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Why are you following me? I didn’t think you cared about the doll.”

“That was before I found out it was a freaking person! If you would’ve told me that before, I-”

“Wouldn’t have believed me,” he answered with an amused expression. I shut my mouth, resigned, and we continued walking.

It wasn’t long before we came upon the shop, which was, surprisingly, only a few blocks from my house. I knew instantly that this was the right place, due to the ridiculously large neon sign above the door that read “Pawns R’ Us.”

“Is that supposed to be qualified as a pun?” I asked, laughing slightly.

“I don’t know…” Caden answered solemnly.

A bell tinkled above the door when we opened it, and a voice boomed from the back of the store. “Welcome, Caden. I thought you’d show up sometime soon.” I stepped in behind Caden, and was amazed at what I saw. This pawn shop was nothing like I expected it to be. The interior was much larger than it appeared from the outside. There were expensive looking couches sitting around a fountain in front of the door, and the items for sale were all placed in an orderly fashion on polished wooden shelves, though it didn’t appear that they were grouped in any way. The walls were lined with royal red paneling with a strange silver crest that reminded me of a family crest, though I was sure no one had those in America, or at least not anymore. I was aware of an intoxicatingly lovely smell, but I wasn’t sure what it was, or where it was coming from.

“Ah, and I see you’ve brought a little friend,” said the clerk, who had appeared in a doorway at the back of the shop between two stuffed bookshelves. The clerk looked much younger than I’d anticipated, and I nearly did a double take as he walked toward us. He was incredibly beautiful, in an ethereal way, and he looked to be in his late twenties. He had satiny blonde hair that was nearly white, and his eyes were the purest blue I’d ever seen, without a single speck of any other color.

“Are you an angel?” I asked without thinking. He laughed, and I clamped my hand over my mouth, embarrassed.

Caden shook his head in revulsion, and said, “All right, Lyndon, you’ve had you’re fun. Now give me the doll.”

The blonde’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, ah, you know the rules.”

Caden groaned and dug in his pocket, pulling out a wad of bills. “How much?”

“That’ll be enough,” Lyndon answered, taking the cash from Caden’s hand before he could count it.

“Well? Where’s the doll?”

“Under Yakira’s bed.”

Caden was out the door before the sentence was finished.

“Um…ok…” I said, feeling a little betrayed by Caden for leaving me alone with a stranger.

“Tea?” Lyndon asked me, gesturing to the open door he had emerged from earlier.

“Sure,” I replied and followed him into the backroom.

“So, how are you and my son getting along?” he asked suddenly as I sat down at a small table in the center of what seemed to be a miniature kitchen.

“Your…son?” I nearly choked.

Lyndon chuckled and nodded as he poured hot water from a kettle into two teacups. “Yes. You mean he didn’t tell you? Strange…I thought you two were closer than that,” he said almost to himself.

“Why would you think that?” I asked, looking at him oddly.

“Well…” he replied, taking a seat across from me and setting the two cups on the table. “He usually doesn’t talk to many… normal people, much less tell them his life story. Assuming, of course, that he did tell you about his precious dolly?”

I nodded. After a moment I asked, “Wait…if the doll is his mother, and you’re his father, then doesn’t that mean that she was your…um, lover?”

Lyndon cocked an eyebrow at me and nodded.

“Then why do you want to sell her - her soul?! What the hell kind of love is that?!” I exclaimed, perplexed.

He looked more than a little amused as he answered, “It has been more than four hundred years since we’ve been together. Besides, she cheated on me while I was gone, and had another kid.” The words “cheated on” sounded funny spoken in this way from him, for some reason.

“So? And that’s reason enough to let her die?! Don’t you think that’s kind of selfish?!”

Then he actually laughed. I looked up in shock, and saw that he was wiping tears from his eyes. “Aside from Caden, I’ve never had anyone yell at me this way before!” he said through his laughter. “This is great!” And he cracked up again as he stirred some sugar into his tea.

I growled and plopped the tea bag from my own cup onto the saucer, then reached over to spoon some sugar out of a little cup in the center of the table. He totally evaded the question…

A/N: So now we get to the point of my serious writer's block. I know, hard to believe that's possible after the long wait for this chapter. Honestly, this chapter has been written and waiting for a long time - I'm just a slacker. Anyway, if you have questions, suggestions, or you just feel like saying hi, don't hesitate to message me. Reviews are always nice, too. :)