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When they reached the surface, emerging into the radio station, Elijah handed the kid he'd carried up the stairs to two of the older escaping subjects. He watched them all hurry out of the building, some sticking together, others running off on their own, and once the last of them were out, he closed the door and broke the lock. If there were any guards or detainers left alive down there, they weren't getting out.

"Zoe," Jake called.

Elijah turned his attention to the pardus and the girl. Jake, who'd found a satellite phone on one of the tables, handed it to Zoe.

She put the laptop she'd taken from Shaw's office onto the chair beside her. But just as she was about to start dialling a number, she hesitated. "Wait, I can't call my dads because then I'll have to tell them what I'm doing out here," she said with a frown. "I'll call Masterton."

"Who's Masterton?" Elijah questioned.

"My family lawyer," Zoe answered as she dialled the number. "He can...no." She sighed and lowered the phone. "My dads will know that it was one of us," she mumbled to herself.

Elijah frowned irritably—

"What about Lucian?" Jake suggested.

A look of disgust warped the girl's face.

"You can just tell him you were on social media and saw a video or something," the pardus suggested.

Zoe looked reluctant.

"We don't have time to stand around," Elijah then said. "The longer you take, the less time we have to get the fuck away from here."

"All right," she exclaimed, huffing. With an irritated sigh, she dialled the number on the phone and held it to her ear.

It rang...and rang....

"What?" came Lucian's annoyed voice.

With a horrified look on her face, Zoe immediately hung up.

Elijah scowled at her.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked her.

"Sorry," she said to Elijah, shaking her head. "He's just kinda intense sometimes; I'm just a little anxious."

"Just get on with it," he snarled.

Zoe nodded and redialled the number. She held the phone to her ear and nervously fiddled with her hair.

"What?" came Lucian's voice again, and this time, he was angry.

"Uh..." Zoe responded, wide-eyed.

A long sigh reverberated through the phone. "Oh, my God, of course it's you. What do you want?"

"I need you to do me a favour, but please don't tell anybody that you got this information from me, okay? I don't care what you say, it just didn't come from me," the girl insisted.

"Oh, okay," Lucian replied, sounding a little devious.

"Wait, no, I do care what you say," she exclaimed, shaking her head. "Just don't be annoying, please, Lucian. Don't complicate things."

"I can't guarantee anything."

Zoe sighed heavily as she glanced at Jake and Elijah. She looked like she was preparing herself. Then, she said, "So, Jake and I...we're kinda looking into the Lyca Corp. stuff, about how they're doing illegal experiments on wolf walkers, and we followed a...clue. We found this radio station near...uh...." She paused and desperately looked at Elijah and Jake. "Where the hell are we?" she whispered.

Elijah frowned. He didn't actually know.

Jake shook his head, also clueless.

"How about you figure out how to string together more than three sentences before you call me next time?" Lucian said.

"Shh," she snapped at him.

With an irritated huff, Elijah walked past her and over to the consoles. He tried searching for a location name or coordinates, maybe even a map, but the only papers lying around were security reports.

"One sec," Jake said as he started typing on one of the computers, and in a matter of seconds, he brought up a screen with a pinpoint location. "We're uh...in Osamore, twelve miles from Little Herring, a small town in the valley."

"Twelve miles from a small town called Little Herring," she said to Lucian. "There's a radio station up in the mountains, and it turned out to be a holding facility. There were all these kids, and...well, we freed them, and they're all running loose out here. My dads can help them, so if you can just get the message to them—"

"What's in it for me?" Lucian interjected.

Elijah impatiently crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floor. They were running out of time.

"Please, can we just negotiate later?" Zoe pleaded.

Lucian didn't reply.

Zoe frowned desperately. "Hello?!"

He took what seemed like a purposely long moment to reply. "I don't know, I'll just take something from your room at the castle, I guess."

"What?" No!"

"Bye." He hung up.

"Wait!" she insisted, but it was too late. She sighed deeply.

"Let's go," Elijah immediately said, moving past her.

Jake followed. "That went well," he said to Zoe.

She tossed the phone onto the table and picked up the laptop. "I hate him," she grumbled.

Elijah led them out of the radio station and over to the parked jeep. "Drive," he told Jake, pulling the door open.

With a nod, Jake climbed inside and started the engine.

Zoe climbed into the passenger seat, and Elijah got in the back, placing his bag on the seat beside him. As Jake drove away from the radio station and followed the road down the mountain, the demon sighed deeply and quietly. He stared out the window, spotting several of the escaped subjects heading in the same direction; he felt guilty about leaving them to fend for themselves, but they'd soon have the help of whoever Zoe's dads were able to send.

The demon leaned his head back and closed his eyes. His mind raced with questions, some of which he might never get the answers. He still wanted to know who Zoe was, and who her dads were, too, especially since they could send help to assist a bunch of escaped Lyca Corp. subjects. But what preoccupied the majority of his thoughts was: where was Haru?

He hadn't found anything helpful in that lab, and Shaw hadn't been of any use, either. Sure, the man confirmed that Lyca Corp. was using lycans and demons to make hybrids, and those creatures floating in the cylinders were chimaeras, weapons that the company were making. He was wondering why he saw those same ooze-filled chambers in his dreams, though.

And then there was the fact that Ridge wasn't a useful connection, either—he was just a one-time contractor. But that didn't stop Elijah from asking himself whether Haru could be in Ascela. The only way he'd find out for sure was if he found Ronan.

"Head for Flinnwick," he told Jake.

"Uh...yeah, but shouldn't we go back to the car first? Our bags are still there," the pardus said.

Elijah rolled his eyes. If Zoe's laptop—which he knew had more information than what she'd shared stored on it—wasn't in there, he'd say no. "Fine," he muttered.

"And then we can—"

Zoe screamed in both terror and surprise, pointing out the jeep window.

Jake slammed his foot on the brake, and Elijah grabbed the door handle beside him to keep himself from being launched forward.

"What the fuck?!" the demon growled.

Zoe put the laptop in Jake's lap and then climbed out of the jeep. She hurried to the middle of the road and crouched.

Elijah scowled angrily, and when he saw her pick up her ratty, wig-wearing dog, he rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat.

"Oh, Antonio," she bawled, smothering the ugly creature in kisses as she walked back to the jeep with him. "I thought you were dead!"

The dog frantically licked her face in response.

Elijah groaned in disgust.

"He found us," the girl said, teary-eyed, as she got in and closed her door.

"I'm not gonna lie," Jake said as he handed the laptop back to her, "I thought the little guy was gone. I thought maybe he got eaten by one of those wolf walkers or something."

"Just fucking drive," Elijah snapped irritably.

Jake did as he was told and started driving again.

"He's tough," Zoe replied to the pardus. "He probably scared them all away."

With another roll of his eyes, Elijah glared out the window.

They drove in silence for a few miles, down the mountain and onto a tarmac road. When the glow of the small town came into view, Jake slowed down a little and adorned a wary frown.

"So, uh...what if those mechanics try to trap us again?" he asked.

Elijah clenched his fists. He wanted to kill the people responsible for what happened to their car; Zoe was nearly lost, Elijah's cover would have been blown, and his mission to find Haru would have become much more difficult. And above all else, those people had made him waste a huge amount of time. He wouldn't let them draw in and sell off any more travellers and passers-by.

"Elijah?" Zoe asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

The demon set his sights on her. "What?"

"What should we do? I don't wanna risk getting caught or seen or followed."

"Just get to the car," he muttered.

Jake nodded and glanced at Zoe. "You gonna see what's on that laptop?"

"Once we're far away from here, yeah," she answered.

Elijah wanted to know what was on it, too, but the girl was right to wait. Anything could happen when they got back to town, and he didn't want to risk losing a valuable piece of information. After all, he might be able to find out where Haru was using whatever was stored on that laptop, and it could make his quest easier. He wasn't going to get his hopes up, though; he'd faced enough disappointment this week already.

They got closer to the town entrance. Jake nervously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, and Zoe tightened her embrace around her rat-dog. The demon, on the other hand, tensed as anger shot through him. He didn't try to contain it, though. He'd already decided what he was going to do.

"Okay...okay," Jake murmured anxiously as they drove into the town and followed the road deeper. "Uh...this way," he drawled, turning right. "And then...this way," he said, turning left. He drove forward for a few seconds and then turned right onto the road where their car was parked.

"There it is," Zoe said, pointing to the car.

Jake glanced over his shoulder at Elijah. "So like...we're keeping this jeep, yeah? I just wanna make sure before—"

"Yes," the demon grumbled. "Pull over here."

As he was told, Jake pulled over and parked twenty feet up the road from their car. "Why?" he then asked.

"Wait here," Elijah told him. "Do not leave this car. I don't want a repeat of earlier."

They both nodded.

"Where are you going?" Zoe questioned.

"To clear up a loose end. And you—" he pointed at her, "—stay. Here."

She pouted but nodded.

Elijah got out of the jeep; he wanted to slam the door, but he closed it slowly and quietly. He didn't want to startle anyone nearby.

He used the cover of the night, sticking to the shadows as he navigated the streets and found his way to the mechanic's garage. The place was closed, but the lights were on; several heartbeats came from inside, too. But he wasn't alarmed—they were all human. He did, however, need to be careful. These people had been orchestrating the capture of demons and lycans for God only knew how long; he didn't want to risk them having weapons that they could use against him.

The demon silently moved towards the side of the building. He slinked into the alley, followed it around back, and then stood beside an open window. He peeked in, seeing three men—one of which was Bob—and Ness, the woman who served him earlier. Bob was in the right corner working on some sort of contraption, and the other two men were counting stacks of money with grins on their faces. Ness was on the phone; a worried frown clung to her face, so Elijah listened.

"What do you mean, gone?" she questioned.

"The lab," came a panicked man's voice. "It's literally gone, like...all the kids got out; we were trying to capture some, but then the fucking Nosferatu turned up!" he exclaimed. "I dunno about you, Ness, but we're getting the fuck out of here before they start hunting us down."

Elijah scowled skeptically. He already knew that Zoe was hiding shit from him, but now that the Nosferatu had turned up after she sent for help, his suspicion grew. He didn't trust the Caeleste government, not after seeing them torching the lab he escaped from and knowing that Zoe's dads had a connection to them unsettled him. He wanted answers from her, and he wanted them now.

But first....

He watched Ness hang up the phone.

"Boys, we gotta get the hell out of here," she told her friends. "Nathan said that the lab got attacked, and all the demons and lycans are out."

"Shit, are you fucking serious?" Bob exclaimed.

"They're gonna come for us, man," one of the other men said.

"Let's fucking go!" the other shouted, greedily gathering up as much of the money as he could.

"Don't gotta tell me twice," Bob said, dropping his contraption.

"Terry, go get the stash," Ness instructed.

With a nod, the black-haired man stopped gathering up the money and headed towards the door that Elijah was standing close to.

The demon soundlessly moved away from the building and took cover behind a mound of metal junk. He peered through a small gap, watching as the man hastily left the building and trekked across the scrap yard towards a shed. Without making a single noise, Elijah prowled across the mud, and when Terry went into the shed, the demon hurried over to it and slipped inside.

With irritated sighs, the man stuffed money, weapons, and documents into a duffel bag, oblivious to Elijah's presence.

Elijah didn't wait. He didn't have the time to toy with these people. Lyca Corp. would likely send people to this town in search of the escaped kids and whoever took down the lab, and he wasn't about to risk getting seen. So, he grabbed the man, holding one hand over his mouth and gripping his shirt with the other. He immediately yanked the man's head to the side, snapping his neck, and then he slowly lowered his body to the floor.

He didn't leave the shed, though. His eyes focused on the duffel bag; he could likely really use what was inside, especially after losing everything in his base in Dawnward. He zipped it up, threw it over his shoulder, and left the shed.

When he got back to the mound of metal, he put the bag down. He moved to the window again and peered inside, watching as Bob, Ness, and the other man packed their things up.

"What's taking him so long?" Bob muttered, throwing a bag over his shoulder. "We gotta go."

Ness sighed and walked over to the door. "Terry!" she called.

"Yo, come on," the other man called.

She tutted and shouted, "Terry!"

"He's probably trying to take off with our shit!" Bob exclaimed angrily. He shoved Ness out of the way and stormed across the yard.

Elijah had to act fast.

The demon waited for Ness and the other man to follow, and then he moved out from behind the metal, crept along the mud until he was behind them, and grabbed the man. He silently snapped his neck, lowered his body to the ground, and snuck up on Ness.

But the woman frowned and turned around—

Elijah savagely sunk his fangs into her neck before she could scream. She choked and gurgled as her own blood oozed into her neck through the massive wound Elijah's teeth inflicted, and as he gulped down her blood, he set his eyes on Bob, who stepped into the shed.

The man's eyes widened, and a horrified expression struck his face.

With a reluctant snarl, Elijah pulled his fangs from Ness' neck. As the blood trickled down his chin, he raced across the yard and lunged at Bob. The man shrieked and struggled, managing to grab Elijah's arm before he could plunge it into the man's chest. Bob then tried to grab the knife at his side, but Elijah mercilessly snatched and snapped his wrist.

"Fuck!" the man shouted painfully. "Get off me, vampire scum!"

Elijah would deadpan and tell him that he wasn't a vampire if he wasn't trying to get out of this without an injury. He grabbed the man's face, digging his claws into his skin, and as he slowly squeezed harder and harder, Bob's struggles weakened, and he started grunting and wheezing.

He wanted to do it slow, he wanted to make this man suffer for all the lives he'd fucked up, but there wasn't time. With one final, hard squeeze, the demon crushed the man's head in his grip; a mixture of blood, skull, and brain matter burst from it, smothering Elijah's hand, and with an irritated grunt, the demon dropped the body and wiped his hand on a nearby rag.

A pained, breathy groan came from the yard.

Elijah frowned as he left the shed, and when he saw Ness trying to drag herself away, choking and panting, he scowled and prowled towards her. She saw him coming; she tried to speak, but the blood oozing from her mouth made her words unfathomable.

With a disgusted snarl, Elijah grabbed the woman by her hair and pulled her up off her feet. He glared into her bloodshot eyes, watching as tears fell down her bloody face.

"P-please," she choked. "H-have...m-m...mercy."

He scoffed. "Did you show mercy to all the people you sold to the catchers? Did you show mercy to all the kids you condemned to a life of hell?!" he growled.

She closed her eyes and grimaced. "I-I—"

"Wherever you end up next, I hope you feel the pain and misery you put them through," he told her.

Ness opened her eyes and mouth to speak, but Elijah abruptly forced his free hand into her chest and tore out her racing heart.

The woman went still...and Elijah tossed her body onto a heap of scrap, right where it belonged.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and snatched the bag from behind the mound of metal. He cleaned his bloody hands on his trousers as best as he could as he followed the alley to the street. A pleasing sense of satisfaction washed over him; knowing that there were fewer hunters in the world relieved him. But there wasn't time for respite—not yet.

Elijah hurried back to the jeep, where—to his relief—Jake and Zoe were still waiting. But as he approached, Zoe leaned out the window and waved at him.

"We got our stuff," she called.

His anger returned. Could these two really not ever do anything he told them to do? "I told you to stay in the fucking jeep!" he growled at them.

"Sorry, we wanted to save ti...is that blood?" Zoe questioned, eyes wide.

Ignoring her, Elijah made his way towards their abandoned car. He pulled the licence plate off, and then he got into the jeep and slammed the door behind him.

"What did you take that for?" Jake questioned.

"And what happened?" Zoe insisted.

"Just go!" the demon insisted impatiently.

"All right, damn," the pardus muttered and started the engine.

"Did detainers show up?" Zoe asked worriedly as Jake started driving.

"No," Elijah muttered.

"Hunters?" she questioned.

"No."

"Other bad guys?"

"No!" he insisted angrily.

Zoe pouted and faced ahead.

"Yo, uh...if something bad happened, you should probably tell us in case we get followed or—"

"I killed the mechanics," Elijah interjected, shutting Jake up. "Now just fucking drive."

The pardus didn't say anything else, and neither did Zoe. They drove in silence, and Elijah could finally rest.

At least for now.

⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲