After driving back from Carmen's just before the sunset, I found myself slumped back on the sofa, resembling something similar to a collapsed bear. I was exhausted and my body ached. The mixture of running from guns, visions and even the simple chore of taking all of Carmen's empty bottles to the recycling bank had my eyes unusually heavy and dark. 

Bloody hell what wouldn't I do for that little lady? She seemed to have me wrapped around her little finger, and annoyingly whilst I tried to blame that behaviour on my human half, I was all too willing to comply myself. She unfortunately had the effect of bringing our two halves together, and I wasn't sure whether I liked that: I didn't want her to make me too human. 

And the tiredness I felt was an effect of this humanisation. All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and never leave but I couldn't do that, I had a job to do. And part of that job was coming round in five. 

I had to admit, I couldn't help feeling reluctant as I texted Dev to see if he was free tonight: it meant I couldn't spend any more time with Carmen. But he was and I supposed that was a good thing. I needed to catch him up and find out if he'd noticed the power of a certain Mrs Darcy Robbins growing anywhere else. 

I pushed myself up from the sofa and wondered over to the kitchen, grabbing two beers and opening one. I leaned against the counter, taking a couple of sips from my drink, as I stared longingly out of window. Sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if things would have been simpler if I was just purely human, if I didn't have to put up with all of these crappy visits from demons, anti-terrorist killers and supernatural beings a-like. My life wouldn't be on the line every day and night anymore, and I would actually be able to sleep without the threat of mentally disturbing visions. I could move to the suburbs and hang by the beach at the weekends; I could live a nice, quiet life with a stable job...get married...have kids...grow old with a family.

Alas, that was not the path ahead of me. I didn't age and I was incapable of love. My life merely consisted of work and indulgence, nothing that was anywhere close to be as fulfilling as a human life could be, especially when guided by an caring God. They would always have some sort of companionship, a companionship that the rules of nature did not allow me to have. 

It was important to remember that destruction and creation could not live in harmony together, and as my purpose consisted of the former it wasn't right for me to live a human life. I was meant to be alone. 

Sighing, I took another few gulps of my beer, becoming more and more irritated with myself by the second. I had the power, I had the money and I had the thrilling lifestyle so why was I acting heartbroken? I should be more than grateful; people would kill to have what I did. 

Yeah and then they would kill themselves after they got it. 

I let out another sigh, exasperated but seemingly unable to shake off the pessimistic mood that had consumed me. Luckily seconds later a knock on the door sounded and gladly I went to welcome my visitor in, pleased to find any kind of diverting distraction to the voice of my melancholic heart. 

Dev's appearance, as I opened the door, was incongruous to his strangely serious expression. He looked extremely relaxed and casual in his white shirt and denim shorts, but the atmosphere around him was tense, solemn even. 

"Sup. What happened to you this weekend then?" 

As per usual Dev didn't bother with small talk, which was something I truly admired in my assistant turned friend. 

"We lost a mafia base," I closed the door behind us and walked into the kitchen, opening Dev's drink for him. "Have a beer." 

"Thanks...but what the hell?" 

"Yeah I know. And Robbins was behind it. She's not who we thought she was." 

"Wait, wait," Dev started, holding his hand up as we moved to the dining room table to take our respective seats. "You're not explaining properly. Start from the beginning please." 

Grunting in response, I began to tell Dev about the shock and horror that was my weekend. I explained to him about the gun shots, the secret shed, the tunnel, and all the while he listened with a grave, wordless expression. But his silence was worrying. I knew there was something he wasn't saying from the second he walked in to see me tonight.  

And then I told him about The Oracle and everything she had said to me about Il Libro Dei Demoni, and how long it had taken us to find the exit of the tunnel. Yet he still made no reaction, so I went into detail about the explanation Victor had given me linking Robbins with the masked men. 

But when I finally got to finishing, I was fed up with Dev's nonchalance. 

"Why aren't you saying anything? What's up?" I asked, trying but failing to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

There was a pause, which was pregnant with my impatience and his reluctance, but he finally spoke out. "The demonic community have become...restless. Rumours have begun to circle of a new threat destroying demonic strongholds, whispers of a new enemy. They know nothing for now, of course...but they're digging." 

I physically flinched and let out a curse.  "Damn it! That means we don't have much time at all. If the demons find out about Robbins..."

"Then there will be widespread panic, and out of that fear we could lose a lot of covered ground. Hell would become chaos," Dev continued for me in a voice that spoke volumes of the doom we could both face if this got out. "And Satan would probably blame us for not controlling the threat, meaning we'd lose some of our power...I wouldn't get promoted." 

"That's not even the worst part, Dev," I said, biting the nail of my thumb anxiously. "I can't stop thinking about The Oracle's warnings. If the demons attack Robbins, which is the most probable reaction from all this, then they'll find Il Libro Dei Demoni and we don't know what it actually does." 

"Yeah that's a point, but I'm not sure if it's really our main problem if they do find out about Darcy." 

"But it could be," I argued back. "What if someone like Maximus gets his hands on it? If this book is as potent as The Oracle says it is, then we would be screwed. Hell would be screwed." 

"Hmm...You have a point about Maximus. But I think you're focusing too much on what The Oracle is saying. Remember what you told me: she's not trust-able." 

Dev was right but that didn't exactly help the situation. No one we knew was trust-able: were we supposed to rely on Satan's word instead? It gave me no pleasure to trust someone who had been unreliable so many times, and yet I felt like I had no choice. It wasn't like we had any other options popping up right now. 

"In any case," I said, drawing myself back into the conversation. "We need to act soon as it's obvious we're running out of time, and going to Italy seems like the only option available right now." 

Dev shook his head. "We can do our own research first. Don't make any rash decisions until after we have looked at every other possible option. It seems unlikely now but you have to remember The Oracle might be lying to us about the book anyway. Robbins might not even have it." 

"With all the stuff that has happened recently, I don't think we can hope for that anymore. But you're right I guess. There's no point in making any reckless choices that could lead to bad outcomes. But be wary around your sources of information. We can't let anyone know we have any idea about what's going on." 

"I won't. Trust me," Dev told me firmly, standing up with a determined expression on his face. "And you be careful too. Good luck, Roman." 

I nodded to him as he let himself out of my apartment and left behind a deafening silence that no amount of words could even begin to fill up. 

I was completely torn between the logic behind Dev's warnings, and the instinct within that The Oracle was giving us a few extremely important clues to save our arses from Hell's fiery furnace of punishment. Something felt extremely magnetising about the country of Italy, and it wasn't the beautiful beaches that were causing it within me this time. 

Either way, one thing rang clear through the desolate night full of secrets and shadows: our immortal hourglasses were running out, and my next decision could prove to be fatal or life-saving.