"To where?" Kim couldn't keep the confusion from her voice and looked at Junel who stood behind her.

"I don't know." Christian sighed. "She just left without telling me."

"Without telling you?" She repeated stupidly. "Didn't you ask her?"

Christian shrugged and turned to face Vanessa at the counter. "I'll just text you when she returns."

"Never mind," she thought to herself. "You won't do that anyway."

Kim saw no reason not to believe him. Christian has always been the most honest person she met but the obvious fact that he didn't like what they've done recently, he can just easily shrug everything off.

Scott and Kathleen were gone for three days now and none of them are answering their calls. Jess is having hard time by herself and Kaiser had business of his own.

"And why is this have to be my problem?"

Junel tried not to laugh. Kim looks furious but that he could deal with.

"It looks like you're going to collapse," he joked, backing up a step for her out-of-nowhere smack.

"My brain already did," Kim growled and stormed out the shop.

Junel waited for Kim's order and talked to Christian for a moment.

Outside are tables of three with twelve chairs occupied by men all dressed in casual attire and were talking at once.

"I suppose demons had her already."

"Most likely. I wonder what the authorities will do about her case?"

"None, I guess. What can they do against the devil anyway?"

"Just as I thought, that woman really is destined to be taken away as well just like her twin sister," a voice rose from a man with a black hat on.

Kim paused to look at him.

"Was that really possible?"

"Yeah, Earth ain't just the world with living creatures, you know. There's also this other realm." The man said and spotted Kim staring at him. He blinked and smiled. "Hi there."

Kim sheepishly grinned and wondered how she could gracefully get away from his approach.

"Let's go?"

She looked at Junel, full of hope, and immediately dragged him towards their car to where Shiela, one of their friends, is waiting for them together with their daughter and Shiela's son.

"So? Where is he?" Shiela asked the moment they entered.

She's playing with the two kids at the back seat. Junel's fingers moved up and down the stirring wheel.

"He won't tell. Obviously, he's mad, and what's more obvious is that those two are together."

"I'm telling you, there's nothing natural about that girl," Shiela spat the words."We know, at least I do."

Caught up with what she heard a while ago, Kim glanced over the men from afar.

"Look at this." Shiela scrubbed a hand through her face and leaned towards her purse.

She took out a folded newspaper and handed it over to Junel without looking at him.

"An update. I brought it over just in case."

Junel only stared at the newspaper, took it and tossed it over the back seat.

"H-hey! What's that for?" Shiela whined. He shrugged.

"I could say it's none of our business."

Junel ain't the one to easily believe things but it might be the tone of his voice that made Kim feel anxious.

Shiela wet her lips as she drew a deep sigh. She doesn't really have any much choice but to lay low and shake the issue off.

"Okay." She said, disappointed with his response.

Junel didn't understand what had gone wrong with his cousin. He's actually guilty about what Scott had done since he's the one who introduced Samantha to him. He could almost wish he could turn back time and as much as he wanted to meddle with her case, something tells him not to or something really unpleasant will happen.

Kim forced a smile. "Let's go to Jess then. Kaiser will have some business in his calendar later."

* * *

"This is insane! I still can't believe this is actually happening."

Scott glanced at the rest from the balcony.

"It's been two days since we arrived here and that dumbass still hasn't located the person behind those articles yet."

"So, she's cursed." He finally muttered to no one in particular, puffing a breath of smoke and turned to look at the night sky. "The heck, she even rarely utters curse words and now she's cursed? And what curse would that be?"

Scott ain't aware of what's really going on and just keeping up with them by acting as if he already knew. He's quite sure he's fooling Kathleen and that she's not probing.

He took his phone out when it rang, seeing Jess on the screen. He sighed and put it back in his pocket. Everything just can't seem to sink in yet and every time he sees Jess, he feels more anxious.

He darted across the kitchen, taking glances at everyone who seem to look very serious of tracking down MaTet.

Kathleen, on the other hand, was diligently reading the grimoire.

He stretched and stood still for a moment thinking why she let him come with them. He just can't seem to believe why she still trusted him with something as crucial as the situation.

"Demons. Another realm. Curse." He muttered to himself, caressing his nape in frustration.

Yawning, he turned towards the fridge and took a can of beer he bought earlier at the nearby convenient store. They've been up for the past two days and only had two to three hours of sleep each day.

Sipping, he sat at the counter and stared at his companions when a second yawn threatened to dislocate his jaw. As nothing much to do, he emptied the canned beer, jumped down and went to the vacant couch to rest.

"Any progress?" Takumi said almost in a whisper.

He was just sitting beside Tomoya, trying to understand numbers of tabs that kept on popping on the computer screen.

Tomoya closed his eyes and turned to see questions crossing through his cousin's face.

"Well..." he began when Kathleen stood behind him.

"So, who is it?!" Kathleen felt a muscle jump in her jaw with the effort of stopping her curiosity.

"MaTet... she's the city mayor's daughter."

"I beg your pardon?" Takumi's voice, the voice of an educated man, had been stammered almost beyond understanding.

Tomoya sighed and clicked the last tab, showing an unidentified button, leading to a public blog of Ma. Theresa Mula.

"Mary Theresa Mula," Kathleen repeated softly.

The woman looks very familiar to her as she was the same person, she saw staring at their coffee shop that day.

"This doesn't make any sense. She doesn't even live here. Only a few have even seen her in this city. S-so how come?"

"Where is she now?" Takumi settled more comfortably into his seat.

"Funny, because she's only blocks away from here." Tomoya stood. "Should we get out and look around?"

"No!" Kathleen snorted. "I mean, Takumi, me and that jerk over there..." she pointed at Scott on the couch, "we are the ones who should look for her. You stay here."

"W-why?"

"She's right." Takumi agreed.

"Of course, I'm always right."

"Y-yeah." Grimacing, Takumi stood. "It would be safe if you'd stay here."

"But, niisaaannn! You're always taking me with you before every time we go on places. Why not now? And besides, it's not like Shane is no one. I still care for her and can't lose her even just as a friend."

"That's too cheesy I can actually smell it."

Tomoya glared at Kathleen who immediately looked away.

"Tomoya, this is different. You know how serious things are getting. You know about my curse and it was never easy, right?"

"I know that's why I can help. I was young back then but now; I can be of a use. I finished reading her grimoire and understood every word of it. Not everything was written down but I can be of a big help in summoning her back."

Takumi glanced at Kathleen who only rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Hmm... fine. Just promise us to never get in our way."

* * *

"Where the hell is he?" Kaiser reached up and helped Jess toward her bed. "Did he tell you?"

Jess glanced at the door and back to Kaiser.

"No, but he must have really gone out to find that woman." Bitter remarks left her lips.

"Or maybe not." Kaiser's tone argued the point even if his words didn't. "He must have been on his way back now."

"It's been days, Kaiser!"

Jess slowly laid down, careful enough not to touch her belly. She always wanted something to eat but Scott is always not around to get her what she wants.

"I'll go back to sleep now."

Kaiser went out her room and sat down the sofa. It was nearly 3 AM but he's still wide awake. He leaned back and stared at the newspaper left above the center table.

Samantha's case had been wrapped up in the front page. Kaiser always thought that something wasn't right about her and Scott had every intention of finding out what it was.

"That heartless jerk." Sighing, he took the newspaper to where Samantha's name is printed in bolded Arial Black across the top.

He's been planning to run secret searches on the case so he kept it. His smile was pale as he walks towards his room. His plan is invasion of privacy but he calls it as finding out a missing friend.