Bloodline

Prologue

There has been sadness to his face when she told him that he looked like his father.

He knew. He has heard it countless of times before, but this time all it has left behind was a bittersweet feeling that he couldn't seem to get rid of.

"I am confident that you'll find him." They'd say.

"I bet that wherever he is, he is proud of you." Others would tell them.

"You should try to live on kiddo, no one has ever managed to get out of there." Some even dared to advise.

But in the end, none of their words mattered.

He didn't care how long it would take him or what it took in order for him to finally find him, but none of that mattered. He knew that his father was somewhere, alive, and that was reason enough for him to seek him out.

Now that the Spiral mark was gone for good, there was nothing that would be able to hold him back anymore. He would invest his all into finding his father, regardless of what people may say about him. He didn't care whether they'd call him crazy, delusional or stupid for clinging onto a tiny spark of hope, he wouldn't rest until he would finally find him.

Eathon Lambert.

"Lok, wait up!"

Lok turned his head to the source of the voice and cracked a smile upon seeing Den rushing towards him with a stack of books tucked under his arm. His brown hair was a mess, his forehead was covered in sweat and his socks were mismatched.

Seemed like his dear teammate has overslept again.

The blonde boy slowed down until Den reached him and stretched out his hand as a silent offer to take some of his friend's luggage. Den instantly took on his offer and placed three of his books in Lok's arms that were considerably heavier than he expected and shrugged his backpack that dared to slide of his shoulder properly back on.

"Good morning to you too, sleepyhead." Lok greeted his friend as they continued to walk towards their shared classroom at a slightly slower pace as Den tried to catch his breath.

"Mornin'." Den greeted as he wiped his forehead with his sleeve, ridding it of the sweat drops that covered it. "The girls?"

"Already in class waiting for us." Lok casually replied as they continued to walk down the hallway of their school.

It's been three months ever since they managed to rid the world of the Spiral Mark and ever since that day, many things changed.

After they defeated Victoria, the Huntik Team took their time in getting back on their feet. Many things happened that they needed to properly process and there were also many things that they needed to take care of in order for the Foundation to return back to its former glory.

After some weeks and with the help of all the Seeker across the world, they eventually managed to turn everything back to the way it formerly was. The Foundation Headquarters have been rebuilt, most of the Seekers have recovered and the Foundation finally managed to open the first dozen of Schools made for Seekers across the globe.

The Huntik team managed to recover with each others help but the scars that they earned during the months before were still beyond prominent and a daily reminder of the tears they shed, the fears they faced and the sacrifices they have made in order to protect the world.

Dante was drowning in paperwork and whereas Zhalia was trying her best to help him as much as she could, it would still take some weeks until they would be able to become an active team again. Just because they weren't an active team didn't mean that they didn't see each other though.

Ever since the Casterwill mansion has been rebuilt, Lok, Sara and Sophie moved back to live there together with LeBlanche and Santiago so that Sophie would be able to take care of all the Casterwill business. Den decided to stay behind at Dante's mansion together with Zhalia despite of Sophie's invitation to join them. Whereas he didn't have anything against the idea of living with Sophie, Sara and Lok, he didn't feel like leaving Zhalia and Dante alone to handle the entire mess.

Someone needed to make sure that they got enough rest, ate and worked out regularly. After the entire formal stuff was taken care of, Den assured them that he would think about joining them, but in the end, they would see each other daily anyways.

Now that the Foundation opened its own schools, Dante wasted no time and decided to enroll them as he had told them all those months ago when they left their old school after they got into a fight.

One would think that it was entirely different from a normal school and whereas it was true to some degree, not much has changed for them.

They still had to wake up early and returned home in the early afternoon. They still got exams, grades and teachers that seemingly loved to make their life a living hell but there were also a few new changes that took the Team quite some time to get accustomed to.

Many new subjects got introduced whereas the old ones got their own little twist to them, like History for example. Whereas they still learned about all of the historical events that took place in the past, they learned how all of these events and people were related to Seekers and the magic that they used.

Who would have thought that Napoleon was a seeker?
Then, there were their schoolmates. The school that they attended was filled with seekers that lived in Italy and they all differed from one another. Of course, there also were the school bullies that liked to tease the weaker ones, the ones that liked to think of themselves as the school's kings and of course, the silent ones that never talked to anyone.

Not every student had their team and some of them preferred it that way. The teachers for the most part were the seekers that retired due to their age, due to them having started a family and only rarely going on missions or them wanting to simply share their wisdom after spending most of their lives as a seeker.

It was interesting, but just as tiring as normal school was.

The Huntik team was quite infamous around school and whereas many admired them and considered them as living legends their age, just as many openly disliked them. Fortunately, due to the mixed feelings people held for them, they were neither considered the schools most popular group, nor the school's freaks.

As for now, it was only their second week at school and so far, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The school had rather strict rules regarding the use of spells. Whereas the students were allowed to use them during classes like PE, for example, they weren't allowed to be used in order to purposefully harm others.

Whoever did so was to report to the school council and to receive their punishment according to the damage they caused to the building or their classmates. In some cases, one can even get expelled.

Sophie, Lok and Sara shared most of their classes with a few exceptions. Since Sophie decided that she'd liked to major in History, Sara in the psychological field and the boys in the practical field, they didn't share all of their classes together.

So far, they managed to get along with their classmates pretty well, but the four of them still mostly stuck together. Not only because they were a team, but because they felt more comfortable around one another.

Lok and Den eventually made it to class just before the bell rung and walked over to their row of seats that were located at the far end of the room. Sophie and Sara were already in their seats, the Casterwill heiress revising her notes from their last lesson while Sara was reading something in her history book.

Upon seeing her teammates approach, Sophie offered them a small wave and put her bag down from Lok's seat. Her boyfriend shot her a dazzling smile as he took the empty seat next to her at the end of the row while Den sat down between Sara and some girl whose name he had troubles remembering.

"Morning Soph, Sara." Lok greeted with a smile and it was just then that Sara noticed their presence and looked up from her book to return the blonde's smile.

"Morning Lok. I didn't think you'd make it on time." Sara commented as she closed her history book and put it back into her bag while Lok's smile turned sheepish.

"Well, I might have lost my English Book and if it weren't for LeBlanche, I probably wouldn't have found it either." He admitted, causing Sophie to poke him in the ribs.

"How many times did I tell you to take better care of your stuff?" Sophie asked, looking less surprised and rather exasperated with the young boy's habits.

Lok lifted his hands in the air in a surrendering manner and shot his girlfriend an apologetic grin. "I am working on it Soph, I promise!" He insisted, and whatever Sophie wanted to say drowned under the sound of the school bell ringing and their teacher entering.

Sophie merely shook her head at Lok, the latter gently nudging her to ensure that she wasn't really mad at him and upon seeing the strawberry-blonde haired girl smile, he returned his attention to the front of the classroom.

Sara also returned her attention to their teacher that had just entered the classroom and organized his files, his lean figure and rather handsome features causing many of the girls to once more gush about his youthful appearance.

And with that, class started.

Sara rested her chin on her palm and absentmindedly fixed her blue eyes on the board behind their history teacher as he started to continue his tale of the great Joan D'Arc. Sara had read the tale over five times during the last week and thus, decided to allow herself to zone out for some minutes until their teacher would be done with the story and do his usual round of answering the students' questions or questioning the students.

It was whatever he felt more like.

She was deep in thought, their teacher's words barely audible to her as she suddenly felt someone kick her shin from underneath the table.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose, trying to pointedly ignore the hit and to succumb to her thoughts once more but a certain someone obviously had other ideas.

As soon as she opened her eyes once more to look at her teacher, she felt her leg getting kicked again and this time, with more force.

"Klutz."

Another kick.

"Klutz, are you deaf?"

Sara clenched her jaw and inwardly prayed to whoever was willing to listen for a miracle, or that her teammate would finally shut up and leave her alone. Either was acceptable.

This time, she felt him poke her in the rib the same way Sophie did with Lok mere minutes ago, causing Sara to slightly jump in place out of surprise before she forcefully returned the favor of kicking Den's leg underneath the table.

He had anticipated her move, as expected, and looped his leg around hers to keep her from kicking him again, causing Sara to finally turn her head to the right and openly glare at him.

"What?" She hissed, clearly not in the mood for his games this early in the morning as she expectantly looked at him.

Den in return threw her one of his trademark grins that he seemingly kept reserved for whenever he managed to tick her off and eventually released her leg now that he had her attention.

He turned to look to his left, then to his right before he motioned for her to come closer with his index finger, much to her annoyance.

Complying ever so reluctantly, Sara leaned slightly forwards the moment he did, his expression surprisingly serious before he closed his eyes and deeply inhaled.

"Let me copy your homework."

Sara blinked.

Once.

Twice.

"You can't be serious." She deadpanned, expression blank and eyes filled with annoyance as she leaned back in her seat and rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on!" Den softly whined, once more encircling her leg with his when he saw her inch closer to Sophie before he slowly pulled her back towards him. "I can't afford to get caught without homework a fifth time!"

Sara looked at him, inwardly contemplating whether it was worth it to actually use darksleep on him so that he would finally stop annoying her or if she should simply help him out a fifth time.

She sighed, and judging by the way Den's expression turned smug, he knew that he managed to get what he wanted.

Sara rummaged through her notes until she found her homework and slid it over to Den with a pointed glare. "This was the last time I saved your sorry butt Fears."

Den instantly accepted the sheet of paper and shot his teammate a subtle wink. "We'll see about that, klutz. If you don't get me out of trouble, who else will?"

Sara rolled her eyes as a soft huff escaped her lips. He was still the very same arrogant jerk he was all those months ago and yet, she couldn't say that she minded because in the end, that was what kept her entertained.

"Shut up and write before you get caught."

He shot her a smile that she didn't catch because her eyes were focused on their teacher again, and Den returned his attention to his homework, eyes fixed on the paper while his mind strayed to the girl seated next to him every once in a while.

Zhalia hummed lightly as she poured the coffee she had just prepared into two mugs. It was still rather early in the morning and even though most people would still be asleep at this hour, Dante and her both agreed that the faster they took care of the paperwork for the Foundation, the faster they would finally get some well-deserved rest.

The young woman grabbed the mugs and slowly made her way into the living-room where Dante was already waiting for her. He was seated in his usual armchair, his TV display showing Metz's equally tired face as the duo went through some agreements and proposals together.

"I still have to consult Grier regarding that matter, but I am convinced that he will support our decision regarding the proposal." Metz told Dante, his voice rough from the lack of sleep he had received during the past night.

Zhalia placed their cups onto the small wooden table that was located in the middle of the seating area and sat down onto the love seat.

Dante shot his fiance a grateful smile as he lifted the mug filled with coffee that she had prepared for him from the table and placed it to his lips.

"Ah, Dante is indeed a very blessed man." Metz commented as he watched his former protegee with an envious glance that Zhalia had troubles to take serious.

"Indeed I am." Dante returned as he winked at Zhalia, who in return rolled her eyes with the ghost of a smile hovering above her lips

"Enough you two." She told them before she took a sip of the brown, hot liquid. "When will you be back in Venice?"

Metz smiled upon hearing his future daughter in law's inquiry and hummed lightly. "I am not quite sure, but I think that I'll be able to visit sometime next month after all of this was taken care of and I took a well needed break."

Zhalia snorted as she placed her mug into her lap and crossed one leg over the other. "Let's hope that we'll be done with all of this soon, a break does sound quite nice actually." She commented before her hazel eyes pointedly fell on Dante. "Especially since I know a certain workaholic that doesn't know when to stop."

Dante arched an auburn brow at Zhalia's words and placed his mug back onto the table, the corner of his lips curling upwards into a smirk. "As far as I know, I am not the only workaholic living in this mansion, dear."

"Oh really?" Zhalia asked, feigning surprise as she placed a hand over her chest. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I would have taken care of Den if I had realized it sooner but once again, the great Dante Vale was faster than me and saved the say. I must say that your observation skills are beyond impressive."

"And yours are lacking." Dante smugly returned, amber eyes gleaming as he took on her challenge. "But that's alright since we have plenty of time to take care of that little problem after we took care of the Foundation work."

Metz merely watched the exchange between the two seekers and silently shook his head. Some things seemingly never changed and whereas he was beyond grateful for that, it sometimes reminded him just how old he actually was and how time flew by.

"As much as I hate to interrupt you, I am afraid that I need to address another rather important matter before I take my leave." Metz announced, instantly earning Zhalia and Dante's attention as the duo turned to look back at Metz, both wearing equally curious expressions.

"It's about Eathon Lambert."

At that, Dante and Zhalia both stiffened. The temperature in the room palpably dropped and the mood almost instantly switched from playful to serious.

Whereas Dante had expected Metz to mention Eathon some time soon, he didn't expect him to do so while Lok was absent. Zhalia in return didn't quite know what to expect from Metz and had a feeling that she knew where he was heading by bringing up this rather serious topic.

She had mixed emotions about the topic of Eathon Lambert's disappearance for several reasons, one of them being a certain blonde haired boy's feelings.

Metz instantly noticed the way the two of them expectantly looked at him and cleared his throat before he continued.

"Now that we managed to rid the world of its greatest threat and are working on healing it of its aftermaths and the damage it caused, I think that it's appropriate to say that since Eathon's disappearance was also caused by this threat, we should finally work on getting him back." He explained, his eyes carefully taking in Dante and Zhalia's expression.

A heavy silence followed his words as the two of them took in his words and eventually, Dante was the first one to speak up.

"Whereas I am not opposed to the idea, we should take the possibly outcomes and everything else that's necessary in order for us to complete the mission into consideration." Dante calmly told Metz as he leaned forwards and placed his forearms onto his thighs, hands intertwined in front of him as he turned to look at Zhalia. "What do you think, Zhaal?"

Zhalia pursed her lips into a thin line before she took a sip of her coffee, hazel eyes fixed on Metz. "I know how important it is for Lok to find his father, but we should gather all of the information we have before we involve the entire team. As soon as Lok finds out that this will be an official mission approved by the Foundation, he won't give it a rest. I don't want him to be disappointed by the clues we may gather, or lack of them."

Metz nodded in approval and Dante leaned back in his chair, expression thoughtful. "We still have the journal, we know where he is and that he is alive. These are the most important pieces of information that we need. Now, we only have to find out how to get him back, what it takes us to do so and what will happen once we get to him. As far as I remember, he disappeared battling the professors ten bests agents, meaning that they as well are wherever Eathon is at right now."

A thick silence once more filled the living-room and after some minutes, Zhalia was the first one to break it.

"We'll go through everything we have once more and figure out a suited starting point before we tell Lok and officially accept it." She told Metz, confident that this was the right thing to do both for Eathon and Lok's sake and safety.

They couldn't just thoughtlessly declare that they would once more seek Eathon Lambert without having secured a base of verified information that they could rely on during later investigations beforehand. As long as they would properly prepare themselves and the mission, there was no reason for them to fail and failing this mission was something that they'd rather not think about.

It would probably be one of the greatest missions that they would ever accept and yet, they knew that this day would sooner or later come. Besides, they'd rather accept it as a team than having Lok do it on their own behind their back.

"Very well then." Metz replied, his expression seeming more exhausted than before as he run a hand over his face. "I trust you to take care of it. I hereby release you of all the Foundation work that was assigned to you, and entrust you the task of finding out as much about Eathon Lambert's disappearance as you can."

Dante nodded as he looked at Zhalia, who in return gave him a curt nod as well, though she seemed slightly uneasy. "We'll report to you as soon as we found enough clues to work with and talked to the team about it." He told his mentor, who in return inclined his head.

"Alright then. Take care you two and get some rest, you need it before you take on your next mission. I give you two weeks to tell me your decision." Metz told them before his face disappeared and the TV display once more turned black.

Zhalia exhaled a soft smile and stood up, grabbing their now empty mugs of coffee before she made her way into the kitchen, a thoughtful expression on her face.

She placed the cups into the sink and looked out of the window, hazel eyes taking on a far-away look as her slim hands rested on the edge of the sink. She remained standing there for some moments, too occupied with her own thoughts to hear the footsteps approach her from behind.

Zhalia felt a familiar pair of lean arms wrap around her waist from behind before she felt herself getting pulled against a broad chest, the familiar smell of wood and cologne hitting her nose as she felt Date rest his chin on her head.

"Don't worry Zhaal, we'll find him." Dante assured her before he placed a feathery kiss on her temple, his hold on her not loosening as he felt her relax against him.

"I don't want to give him false hope." Zhalia admitted as a familiar pair of baby-blue eyes flashed in front of her inner eye. "I know that chances are high that Eathon is still alive, but that doesn't mean that we'll manage to get him out of Huntik."

Dante's chest vibrated softly as he hummed. "I know, but this is something that we can't spare him from. It's time for us to finally settle this matter for good, regardless of the outcome. Let's think positively and not worry about anything that didn't even happen yet and may never happen either."

Zhalia sighed and that's when Dante knew that he had won. He gently turned her around so that he could take a look at her face and used one hand to gently tilt her chin upwards, amber clashing with hazel as he offered her a small smile.

"Lok is stronger than you think, he'll make it." Dante told her, and Zhalia closed her eyes before she deeply inhaled through her nose.

"I know." She replied before she opened her eyes once more to look at Dante. "We should try to do our best to find Eathon then."

"That's the spirit." Dante praised before he tightened his hold on her waist and in the next moment, lifted her off her feet and right into his arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Vale?" Zhalia asked as she arched a curious brow at Dante, who was now making his way upstairs.

"Didn't you say that a certain workaholic didn't know when to take a break?" He innocently asked as he made his way up the stairs, amber eyes gleaming with amusement as he took in the disbelieving expression that Zhalia's face held. "So that's exactly what I am going to do now. I'll take my fiance's word to heart and spent the following days catching up on all the sleep we've missed until we'll have to start working on our new mission."

Zhalia crossed her arms above her chest. "So that's why you're abducting me?" She asked, the suspicion in her voice clearly audible and causing Dante to chuckle out of amusement.

"Exactly." Dante told her as he opened the bedroom door and placed Zhalia on the soft mattress after he shut the door with his leg behind him, her arms instantly wrapping around his neck as he leaned his forehead against hers with a smug smile. "Can't blame me for wanting to spend some quality time with my soon-to-be wife."

Zhalia's lips curled upwards into a smile that she only reserved for him, amusement sparkling in her eyes as she pulled him closer so that their noses were brushing against each other.

"No, I can't." She mumbled as she allowed her lips to briefly brush against his before she pulled them back so that they were hovering over his, the teasing glint in her eyes not going unnoticed by Dante. "I can't remember you asking for my consent to kidnap me, though."

Dante grinned as he tightened his hold on her waist and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, amber eyes burning at the challenge.

"I don't have to ask to kidnap what's already mine."

And with that, his lips crashed against hers.

A/N: I don't know where to start.

First of all, I know that it's been quite some time since I have last published anything in this fandom, but I had my reasons.

This story is one of them.

I have toyed with this idea for a very long time but didn't quite know how to turn it into an actual story. After some weeks of thinking it over, writing chapters, deleting them again just to start all over again I have finally reached a point were I can say that I am content with my work.

This story will be the official continuation of my previous story House of Cards and if anyone remembers me, I'd be beyond happy to hear from you!

It's been a long time ever since I have posted the last chapter of HOC and whereas I didn't plan or wanted to write a sequel to it and instead, create something entirely new, I just couldn't pass this idea and thought that the Team's Journey of finding Eathon would make more sense after everything that took place and happened in HOC.

Now, on to the actual story.

I have already written the first couple of chapters, so I'll regularly update this story, meaning that there won't be any month-long hiatuses as there used to be with HOC. I didn't want to start anything without being certain that I would end it, so I hope that you'll support this sequel and story as much as you supported HOC by reviewing, favoriting and following.

This story is something that I have invested a lot into, and I'd highly appreciate any of your thoughts on it. Whereas this is only the first chapter and I know that it doesn't reveal much yet, I think that you can get a rough idea of what the story is going to be about.

Another important piece of information that I should probably add is that this story takes place three months after they defeated Victoria, meaning that the last part of the Epilogue /The time skip didn't happen.

Anyways, I hope to hear of you soon and also hope that you'll like this Sequel as much as you liked HOC. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

I am really glad to be back and to be able to finally share another one of my pieces with the very first fandom that I joined all these years ago.

Let's start this journey once more, shall we?

See you very soon!

Love, Sara