⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲

A distorted voice called Elijah's name.

He opened his eyes, finding himself in the same hall that he dreamt about not long ago—the hall he'd only seen once while in Lyca Corp.'s lab. Just like before, a dark shadow moved past the windows on the other side of the doors, and Elijah extended his claws.

This time, however, he wasn't afraid.

Prowling towards the doors, he prepared to fight whatever had grabbed him the last time he dreamt of this place. He stepped through and into the gloomy room, and when a whisper slithered past him, he looked over his shoulder.

Red light flashed from inside an open doorway. He moved towards it, his heart beating steady, his body relaxed but ready for a fight. His instincts warned him, telling him to turn back, but just like before, there was something much more powerful urging him to continue.

He went through the doorway and followed the corridor, and when he reached the end, he emerged into the hall full of liquid-filled cylinders. And this time, there were mangled, mutated chimaeras inside.

That familiar low growl travelled around the room, swerving between the massive cylinders. A shadow shifted between a computer console and a glass cabinet filled with blood samples, its footsteps squelching as if the floor was covered in something viscous.

Elijah looked down, realizing that the ground at his feet was covered in a one-inch layer of water. There were no tiles beneath, and the floor was as black as the darkness ensnaring the hall.

He knew that there was something in there with him. It kept growling, its footsteps echoing as if it were circling Elijah. The demon focused his ethos, trying to detect an aura, but still, there was nothing.

With a skeptical glare, he spun around, following the footfall with his senses. He turned, spun, and stumbled, searching for the source.

And just like before, his sights locked with a pair of glowing red eyes peering at him through the green ooze inside one of the cylinders. It smiled at him, but its teeth weren't sharp and shark-like as they were before. This time, the grin possessed four fangs—a pair on each row of teeth—and its face, though distorted through the ooze—looked more human than monster.

"Eli..." it whispered, its voice reverberating around the hall.

Footsteps came behind him.

He swung around, but like last time, he was too slow to react, and a cold hand gripped his throat—

⤝❖⤞

Elijah didn't wake up—at least not in the real world. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in an endless, total darkness. The ground at his feet possessed the same inch-thick layer of water he'd just been standing on, and there was nothing...and no one.

Darkness stretched as far as his eyes could see in every direction.

There was no scent, no sound, no feeling.

Nothing.

He frowned as he cautiously looked around, searching for something—anything.

And then he saw it.

He saw him.

A man so far away, barely visible but visible enough for Elijah to make out his crimson eyes, black hair, and pale skin. He reached his clawed hand towards the demon, his claws as black as the gloom they stood in. His mouth moved, but no words came out.

At least not right away.

Seconds later, as if slowed by the weight of the darkness, the man's words reached Elijah's ears.

"Find me..." he commanded, his voice disembodied, echoing several times as it circled Elijah's head.

The demon frowned, confused. "Why?" he called back.

A few moments later, the man replied, "Find me...."

Elijah's frown thickened, and frustration accompanied his confusion. "Who are you?"

Instead of responding, the black-haired man pointed a pale, clawed finger at Elijah. "Find...me."

Before Elijah could attempt to reply, the darkness faded away, snuffed like a flame in the window. The world spun, everything withered, and Elijah was struck by a pair of familiar voices.

He opened his eyes, and when he looked around, he saw the motel room, and Zoe and Jake were sitting on the other bed muttering to each other.

Every time he woke and didn't see Haru, his heart ached, and a horrible sense of loneliness filled him. He knew that he had to remain determined, that he needed to stay focused, but sometimes...he lost his strength for a moment. He let himself grieve, and he let himself succumb to the weight of the time that had passed since he last saw the man he loved.

Love.

He'd never told Haru how he felt, but Haru knew, didn't he? Of course he did. Haru imprinted on him, and Elijah marked Haru; that was their way of saying they loved each other, wasn't it?

Of course Haru knew.

But did he still believe it? Did he still believe in their bond after all this time? Or had he given up? Had he stopped hoping that Elijah was going to find him?

A despondent frown managed to steal Elijah's vacant face. He rolled onto his side, turning his back to Zoe and Jake. If they were both demons, they'd be able to communicate long-distance, but they weren't. There was no way for Elijah to know whether Haru was alive, and Haru in turn wouldn't be able to tell if Elijah was still breathing.

If he hadn't given up by now, though, then Haru mustn't have. Their bond was the only thing that got them through those years of torture, and it was going to get them both through this.

"Hey, you sleep okay?" Zoe asked.

Elijah exhaled deeply. "Fine," he mumbled.

"There's some pizza left over if you're hungry," Jake told him.

The demon frowned and glanced at the clock. It was 6 a.m.; he'd slept the entire night. Both Jake and Zoe had changed into new clothes, and it looked like they were almost ready to leave already.

"We were thinking of heading out early," the girl said. "Beat the traffic; the highway through Pristead gets pretty busy around nine; all the people getting to work and whatnot in the city."

He rolled onto his back and sighed again. "Whatever."

"You should eat before we go," she insisted.

"I already ate," he grumbled.

"When?" she questioned.

He glanced at her, deadpan. "Last night when I killed the mechanics who've been luring Caeleste into their town to hand over to the catchers."

She went a little pale. "Oh...."

"So, that's where you got the bag of cash and guns?" Jake asked.

The demon half-nodded and looked up at the ceiling again.

"I just have to send this to my dads, and then we can get going," Zoe said as she closed Shaw's laptop. "I copied everything over to mine in case we end up needing it."

Elijah sat up and dragged his hand over the back of his neck. He was glad that they wouldn't be wasting any time this morning, and although he felt a little sluggish, he was ready to get going.

"Are you gonna send it to Lucian?" Jake asked her.

"Yeah. He'll make up some story about it," she said as she held out her hand.

Moments later, in a puff of blue smoke, a sapphire-eyed, hairless cat-looking creature with leathery wings appeared. It floated down and landed on her wrist like a bird, and when it turned its head, setting its eyes on Elijah, the demon frowned strangely. He felt as if he'd seen this creature before, but he didn't know what it was.

"What the fuck is that?" he questioned.

"An izuret," Zoe answered as she handed it the laptop. "Take this to Lucian, please."

The creature nodded and immediately disappeared in another puff of smoke.

"They're little demon messengers; my family can use them to send messages and stuff," the girl continued.

"I think they're pretty freaky," Jake said as he zipped up his bag.

"They're not freaky," she mumbled with a pout, packing her things away.

Elijah rolled his eyes and got up. He checked his bags, ensuring that everything was where it should be, and then he waited for Zoe and Jake.

Just as he was about to sink back into the despair of Haru's absence, though...he heard something.

Felt something.

A rustle, faint but unmistakable, followed by the scraping of sand against a boot.

Someone was outside.

Elijah's muscles coiled like springs, his heart pounding a frenzied rhythm in his chest as his instincts screamed for readiness. Ignoring Zoe and Jake's muffled, concern called, he pivoted, wrenching the door open with a sharp tug. Stepping out into the deserted parking lot, every nerve in his body electrified, he scanned the shadows, eyes darting frantically, desperate to pinpoint the source of the noise.

He felt an aura. It was faint, but it was there, and the very fact that he could sense it meant that it couldn't be detainers or Lyca Corp. agents. They'd mask their auras to avoid detection.

The demon frowned skeptically, a predatory gleam in his orange eyes as he stalked toward a stack of decrepit, dusty crates. Zoe and Jake hovered in the doorway, observing his every move; with calculated precision, he closed in on the crates, and in a blur of motion, he darted behind them, seizing whoever skulked there with swift, unyielding force.

"Don't hurt me!" the small, black-haired girl cried, trembling in Elijah's tight grip.

Elijah's intent to kill waned, and when he saw what she was wearing—the same grey gown that all facility subjects wore, adorned with their subject number—he lost his scowl and calmed down. He didn't let go of her, though; he wasn't taking any risks.

"Elijah?" came Zoe's voice.

The girl and Jake hurried over, and when they saw the girl, too, they both looked confused and a little hesitant.

"Who are you?" Elijah questioned.

She shivered nervously. "Enid," she answered. "I...I followed you from place."

"From...the lab?" Zoe asked.

The girl nodded.

"Why?" Elijah asked.

"Because...because didn't know where else to go."

She didn't look very old—maybe fourteen or fifteen. She reeked of lycan, but Elijah wasn't sure which kind, and there was dried blood on her face, hands, and feet.

"How did you follow us?" Jake asked her.

"Ran," she replied, shifting her dark brown eyes to him. "All the way to here. Just got here."

Elijah snarled irritably and let go, standing up. "You should've waited. People came to help."

Enid shook her head, nervously shifting her gaze between the three of them. "No wait. Not safe. Bad men try to take us."

Jake looked at Zoe. "Did you ask Lucian for updates?"

"No, and even if I did, he wouldn't give them to me." She turned her attention to the girl. "Are you okay? Did—"

"Did anyone follow you?" Elijah interjected, glaring down at her. He then glanced around as his heart started racing again. The desert stretched for quite a while without anywhere for someone to take cover; not only did that mean that this girl could have easily been seen, but it also meant that he'd see detainers coming a mile off.

Enid said, "No follow. Hard to follow me."

Elijah looked down at her again. "Why?"

It seemed as though she was trying to find the words, but she evidently concluded that she didn't have them. She stood up, and when the three of them cautiously backed off, she shifted into her lycan form—a wolf-sized caracal.

Now it made sense. Muto caracals were almost impossible to track and follow, especially in this kind of landscape. However, that didn't completely settle Elijah. He didn't know this girl, and having two burdening companions was enough already. "Can't you get someone to come and pick her up?" he asked Zoe.

She looked like she was going to argue, but instead, the girl exhaled and shrugged. "Yeah, but they could take a while to get here. I wouldn't wanna leave her here in case someone finds her."

"So what do we do?" Jake questioned before Elijah could.

Zoe pondered. "We could drop her off at Hannah's place," she suggested.

Elijah frowned cautiously. "Who?"

"Hannah. She's someone we used to go to school with. Don't worry, she's cool," the girl assured him. "She works in a clinic; they take care of orphaned Caeleste."

As much as Elijah wanted to ensure that this girl was kept safe from Lyca Corp., he didn't want to add an unnecessary amount of time to his mission, which had already been hindered enough. "And how long is that going to take?"

Jake crossed his arms. "She's in Ukinas, right?"

Zoe nodded. "And we can just take the Ukinas highway through to Qosa instead of cutting through Pristead. It'll take about the same time."

Elijah sighed deeply. If it was going to take the same amount of time as heading through Pristead, then it wouldn't make much of a difference, would it? "Fine," he muttered.

"You take me...to safe place?" Enid asked, shifting back to her human form.

"Yeah," Zoe said, smiling at her. She held out her hand and said, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

The demon snarled irritably—

"It won't take long, Elijah," Zoe muttered at him and then escorted the girl towards the room.

Elijah trailed behind Jake. When the pardus went inside with Zoe and Enid, the demon stopped and stood watch outside the door. He couldn't sense anyone else out there, but he knew better than to let his guard down. Caracal or not, there could still be a chance that Enid was followed. He wasn't going to take any risks.

The demon leaned against the wall and glared across the desert. As desperate as he was to reach East Coast and find Ronan, he wouldn't leave Enid to fend for herself. He knew first-hand what she and the other subjects had been through and abandoning her here would be the same as condemning her to death or Lyca Corp.'s capture. He wouldn't do that to anyone.

He just hoped that dropping her off in Ukinas wasn't a mistake, a mistake that meant he lost Haru forever. What if this detour made him take even longer to reach his goal? What if Ronan was gone by the time they reached East Coast? Or what if Haru was moved again?

With a conflicted frown, he watched the sun climb higher over the horizon. What if Haru was gone? What if the doctors had turned him into a monster? What if...the dream that Elijah kept having was some kind of warning? What if his subconscious somehow knew that Haru was floating around inside one of those ooze-filled cylinders?

No.

He didn't want to think like that.

There might be no way of him knowing whether Haru was still alive or not, but if he died...Elijah would surely feel that, right? He'd heard stories of how demons could feel the pain of their loved ones, that they could feel when they died. He hadn't felt agony like that....

But how would he even know what it felt like? His heart ached all the time, and he often felt lost and alone when he thought about the fact that Haru was so far away. What if that....

He closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. The last thing he needed was to give in to the despair and dismay of not knowing.

Haru was out there.

He had to be.

⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲