Consciousness fled basically as soon as my head touched the bed and I remained out like a light for the next eight hours. It would have been longer, but I was still on a mission, so my body wouldn't let me stay down. Honestly, I would have been good to just leave and get to work, but Laxus was MIA from the time I woke up.

Normally, that wouldn't have been an issue, but we had only gotten one room and Laxus hated getting up early for any reason. Sure, he tended to wake up randomly in the middle of the night and wander around our base (He scared the shit out of Freed once), but that was about it... However, if that was the case, then why didn't I feel his heartbeat?

From the moment I woke up, he had been missing, which meant that either Laxus had decided to leave town while I was asleep, which would certainly lead to me murdering him later, or something was wrong.

It doesn't take a genius to know which option I was going with.

A deep-seated fear lodged itself in my gut as I hurriedly got changed and grabbed my weapons. There was no real distinct reason why, but it felt I like was on the verge of hyperventilating, o I may have been a little overzealous with my weapons, especially the hidden daggers. Some major shit was probably going to go down today and I refused to be underprepared.

By the time 5 am rolled around, I was already in the process of searching the hotel for any evidence to back my theory, though there was little to find as I hadn't been the most observant the night before. I was about to give up when I noticed the hotel concierge giving me an awkward look, which led to me finding the best clues I could have asked for.

"Hello there," I said brightly as I sidled up to counter, "There hasn't been a big blond guy roaming the area, has there? He's got a nice scar over one eye and a personality that is bigger than his shoulders so he's pretty hard to miss."

I had to give it to this guy, he was a good liar, his face didn't miss a beat as he returned my smile and shook his head, "No, Ma'am. Though I did just start my shift, so it's possible that I missed him." If his heart rate hadn't picked up, I actually might have believed the poor man.

My elbows rested on the counter as I leaned closer to the man, who was definitely beginning to sweat, "Oh really?" My eyes darted around to the desk and a grim smile crossed my face, "If that really is the truth, then alright, but you should know that I'm investigating a case for the Rune Knights and he's my partner. I'm already suspecting foul play, so if it turns out that you were hiding information from me then I'll be very... Put out."

I genuinely felt bad for the guy, no doubt he had been threatened to keep his silence, but that didn't mean I was going to go easy on him.

"Are you threatening me?" The concierge said indignantly, though his voice rose about an octave while doing so.

Quickly I dropped the grin and tilted my head as I stared at him menacingly, "Oh no, I would never do that, I'm simply asking you to consider your options carefully. Whose bad side you want to be on at the end of the day?"

For a moment there was silence, but the longer we maintained eye contact, the more color the man lost as he seemed to realize that I was not kidding around. His heart was going a mile a minute and that pace only seemed to increase the longer we sat there.

"Please," He finally choked out as he sagged down against the counter, "I have a family, I can't... Can't afford to..." The words caught in his throat and he looked down at the table, swallowing heavily, "They threatened my family, please don't make me tell you anything."

It was a sad feeling to break people, a sobering moment of realization that they feared you more than whatever was keeping their silence and it hit me like a brick. Unfortunately for him, I needed the information, "I can't promise that your family will be completely safe, but if you tell me, then I will do everything in my power to hunt these people down and stop them."

His head bowed as he stared at the floor, "N-no, I'm sorry, my... My family means t-to much to me."

The unsettled feeling in my gut tripled as he spoke to the point where it was physically painful. Instead of showing the sudden strain, I chose to snap; my hand flew to my belt as I pulled out a dagger. My other hand reached forward blindly until I gripped the front of his shirt, I practically dragged him across the counter as the tip of my dagger rested firmly against his throat.

"Are you sure about that? I think your family would want you to come home tonight, don't you?"

For a moment, his heart stopped before he began to struggle, "Please, no! Don't do this!" 

My voice was barely recognizable as I growled into his ear, "Then tell me what I want to know."

That was the last bit of encouragement he needed, "It was that new guild that people talk about joining! There was a bunch of big men who walked through here with the guy rolled up in a rug!" I could tell the instant I cut him as a bead of blood began to run down my blade and he whimpered, "I don't want to die!"

That answered one thing, but I needed just a little bit more, "Did you recognize any of them? Anything that would point me in their direction?"

"No!" 

His heart, while already beating at a worrying rate, sped up just a little bit more telling me that he was holding back again, "Try again."

I could feel the blood drip down my fingers as the blade continued to cut into his neck, "Circe! On-ne of the people worked for Circe at her second-hand store! I beg you!"

Without another word I dropped the man to rest on the counter, my eyes looking down at him unforgivingly, two chips of blood that had been frozen. This was a familiar sensation, one that I used to wear like a cloak back when I was an assassin. Normally I would try to reassure the sobbing mess in front of me, but the slight shift was enough to completely remove any empathy.

The door rang as I walked out, murder written in both my face and my steps as I walked towards the place that I had been pointed towards. Laxus was being held by Novus Ordo for an unknown reason and I was going to get them back. I could barely feel anything at the moment, but there was one thing I knew for sure: If those fuckers had hurt Laxus in the slightest...

I would slaughter them all without mercy.

***

Circe's Second Hand Shop, as it was so imaginatively named, was easily found near the center of town. It had been one of the locations that I had flagged during my initial investigation because of the rumors that had been going around about it. Apparently, secret meetings were held there and everyone and their dog attended... Or at least, that's what the rumors would have you believe.

As it was, this was a fairly ordinary looking shop, with nothing ornate to draw attention to it and a simple sign stating it's hours above the door. The inside was just as boring, racks of merchandise laying around and clothes hanging in another section. I couldn't help but cringe as I walked in though, the inside smelled like it had been run by a mothball loving grandma... If that grandma was also a drug dealer.

The people inside the store weren't much better, there was a definite suspicious aura hanging around the place and a majority of the 'attendants' were barely able to conceal the fact that they were carrying large weapons. 

Don't get me wrong, I was still in the zone to kill, but that didn't mean I wasn't internally facepalming at how bad this whole 'secret operation' was. No wonder the rumor mill was so detailed here, the brains behind this whole thing were idiots.

I could feel a distinct change in the air as I fully walked into the shop, several of the customers looked at each other warily before making a hasty exit while the attendants all stiffened visibly, It was true that I could just go in guns blazing, but I could tell that Laxus wasn't here, so that meant that I still needed information.

"Excuse me?" I said politely, pasting a happy mask on over the seething rage as I approached one of the attendants, "I was wondering if you could help me."

The attendant smiled warmly, but the way the smile didn't reach his eyes betrayed the fact that he was on guard, "Yes, of course, ma'am, is there anything specific you were looking for?"

I waved dismissively as my smiled stretched just a little more, not quite crossing over into the realm of being creepy, "Oh no, I don't need anything specific, don't worry, I was just looking for my companion! He's tall, has a scar over one eye, and is wider than about three of you, really hard to miss."

That certainly did it, everyone who was left in the store froze quickly, though they tried to play it off. If that wasn't a dead giveaway, then I didn't know what was. I noticed one of the men ducking into a back room as all of the customers began moving to the edge of the room, watching with anticipation... They needed to leave, I refused to kill in front of innocents.

After a minute of the man I was talking to stuttering his way through a half-assed explanation, the back door opened again and a woman walked out, followed by a small entourage. That left fifteen people, all of whom were quite obviously armed... So I had fifteen low intelligence opponents to deal with, did I? This wouldn't be an issue.

Just as I was about to start asking questions, a smell caught my nose which caused me to stop as my entire attention was drawn to one of the men in particular. That scent... For a moment my facade dropped and an immense amount of bloodlust began to leak from me, catching the attention of everyone in the room. The civilians on the edges began to exchange cautious glances, but I was too busy trying to pull myself back together to pay much attention to this.

"I'm sorry," The woman spoke out, looking at the remaining people, "It appears that we need to shut down for a few minutes to help this woman, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but you are more than welcome to come back later!"

The other people probably left, but I couldn't bring myself to pay attention to that, my eyes slid shut and I focused on not losing control. "Unbelievable," I muttered quietly, gaining all of their attention.

As I opened my eyes again, the facade dropping completely as I glared at the woman before me, "May I ask what you are referring to Madam? We are here to help you, after all." She said politely, but her face was about half as cold as mine was... I would have to teach her a thing or two about being menacing while I was here.

No one had drawn their weapons yet, but it was obvious that they were ready to at the slightest provocation.

"You know?" I spoke finally, maintaining my stoicism, "I had planned to lead you along as I milked your pathetic group for information, that hardly seems effective now that I know this isn't the main base." Disdain dripped from my voice as I looked at my opponents, "Hell, if you hadn't kidnapped my partner I would have considered letting you live; after all, it is possible that you just went down a bad path. Unfortunately for you, you've already crossed the line."

That caused everyone in the store to snarl at me as they put their hands on their weapons, "Stop." The woman's voice rang out, showing just who was in charge as the men halted, glaring at me viciously, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what we've done to make you mad at us. Threatening our lives seems a little excessive though, perhaps we can talk this out." Her dimples showed, but her eyes were empty. God, this was just too easy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I not make it clear enough for you?" I asked as I folded my arms, "I'm here because you weren't stealthy enough, Novus Ordo caught the attention of the council and they sent me here." The woman's smile dropped and she opened her mouth to speak, but I simply lifted a finger and cut over her, "My mission really was simple, make sure that you weren't doing anything too dangerous because, after all, you weren't officially a dark guild just yet.

"Unfortunately for you, the moment I was asked to be on the case, you were doomed, even before you made the mistake of taking the Spark Plug I planned on taking you out. You see," I said as the men drew their weapons and circled around me, "I knew the guild you guys were based on, Novus Ordo, a guild meant for those born without the ability to use magic... One that focused on human experimentation... an abomination."

The woman chuckled as she stared at me, a spear clutched tightly in her hands as she relished the feeling of having the upper hand, "And you chose to reveal yourself now? As you're surrounded by enemies? Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but your little friend is likely dead, he had something... Valuable that we wanted. Don't worry though, you'll be joining him soon enough."

All the men surrounding me chuckled along with their boss, though no one chuckled louder than me. Slowly the laughs died as I continued, my bloodlust seeping out with every deranged chuckle. My vision was completely stained red as I held myself, "I-I see, you...You're blinded by the fact that you have swords, aren't you? Heh, oh, this truly is a sight to behold!" Finally, I was able to stand straight as my laughter subsided, though a rather unhinged grin was still spread across my face, "Well then, if that's the case, then go ahead, try to hit me! Go ahead, I'll let you have the first strike!" I spread my arms open in an invitation as a shadow covered my eyes.

Silence reigned for a moment before one of the men leaned over to the woman, "Uh, boss? A thought occurs. This chick came in here expecting this to be the headquarters, and yet she only brought herself and two swords... I think this might be a trap." Several of the men nodded in agreement with their comrade's words.

Unfortunately, the woman brushed off his words, "Enough, she is obviously deranged! You are all in full armor and have been training for years!" That didn't seem to alleviate any of their worries, so she sighed heavily and looked down at her spear in irritation, "I can't believe the boss gave me a bunch of imbeciles to lead, How about this? Whoever kills her will get a bonus portion of the next raid."

That seemed to be all the men needed as they charged forward with angry yells. It was truly unfortunate that they didn't listen to their intuition.

My enhanced speed meant that even before the first person swung his sword, I was already behind him, then it was a simple matter to dodge and weave through the men, all of whom seemed to be enraged by the fact that none of their swings were making contact. 

Finally, I reached the man who caught my attention in the first place, my hand briefly brushed his belt before he stopped in place and cried out in pain, freezing everyone for a moment as I held up a slightly bloodied hand, that held the dagger that I had plunged into his waist, "Next time you kidnap someone," I snarled, gently pulling Laxus' emergency lacrima off the end of the blade, "Maybe don't wear their confiscated items as jewelry." My magic activated at a silent command and the blood separated into two parts, one much smaller than the other, "There was even blood still on it, how kind of you."

Aside from the man who was cradling his stab wound, all the others were staring at me in horror, "What the hell are you?" The woman hissed, her spear up defensively.

The larger ball of blood that was hovering in the air floated to my mouth as I sucked it up, causing even more repulsed looks to be shot my way, "What am I?" I said quietly, feeling my powers shaking at my control, begging to take over, "I'm whatever my family needs me to be. If that means I have to be a grim reaper for now, then so be it."

"Blood control: Evaporate."  

The man whose blood I had tasted barely had time to scream as his the evaporated blood inside his veins caused his body to bloat, undoubtedly it was incredibly painful, but my eyes were dead as I flicked my wrist and caused the blood to come pouring out of every orifice on his face. The remaining occupants of the room turned to run, but I was quicker as several Blood Clubs™ swirled to cover all the exits. The human body contains quite a bit of blood, so there was more than enough to paint the entire room in a light haze of red.

"Now let's get back to my original question," I said slowly, advancing towards one of the groups, all of whom were cowering in the corner, "Where is my companion, and what plans does Novus Ordo have for him?"

I looked straight at the woman, as it was unlikely that any of her lackeys would have that information, "Please don't kill us!" One of the men yelled frantically as I approached. It really was a pity for him that I couldn't really afford to let them live, they were in my way... and if they escaped, my highly visible Fairy Tail mark could get the guild in trouble.

"You took my friend from me, you will tell me where he was taken from here. Either that or I will drain all of you of your blood slowly and painfully until I find some clue of where to go next. I certainly hope none of you have any family around here." 

The men were already fairly pale from the shock, and at that, all of them lost any remaining color. Deep inside my mind, I could feel a little me screaming for me to stop, to let them go. There had to be another way... Anything would be better than watching their faces turn to the purest form of horror as a true monster among men approached them.

That moment of mercy hit me hard enough that I stopped in my tracks and forced the haze from my eyes. Without the bias, all I saw in front of me was a bunch of pathetic men who wanted nothing more than to go home at the end of the day.

"See!" The woman's grating voice called out from the sidelines as she stepped forward from where she had been cowering in the corner, "You hero types are all the same! You swoop in here and proclaim your justice like some avenging angel, but when it comes the hard decisions you don't have the balls to go forward! This is why you will never beat us!" Her speech was punctuated by short bursts of laughter, yet that was all I needed.

Slowly I took in a deep breath as I looked back up at the men, "Does she have the information I need?" I asked quietly enough that only the men before me could hear, all of whom nodded enthusiastically as they saw their way out. "Good. Leave now before I change my mind, and next time you think about joining a borderline dark guild remember that people like me will come after you."

The blood that was around the room swirled to my palm, which left the exits open. Immediately, the men ran towards the exit with the woman following right behind them.

"Blood control: Predator" 

Needless to say, she was just a little too late.

"Predator: Hunt"

A Blood Club™ that was about two feet in diameter slammed into her before she could even get within three feet in the door. There was enough blood that her entire body was enveloped and she was lifted off the floor in a rather brutal manner and pulled to me with the barest twitch of my finger, "How about you tell me what I want to know, otherwise I'll make sure your death is as slow and painful as possible."

With a simple command, the blood receded to allow the woman's head out, "Like you have the guts, you hero type are-"

The blood reacted to my sharp spike of irritation and constricted to cut off her words, "I wouldn't say that again if I were you, do you not remember the fact that you're being held captive by your own comrade's blood? And don't give me that bullshit about Laxus not being alive, I would know, trust me on that."

Spit welled up in the back of her throat for a moment before she tried to spit on me, though it fell woefully short and I just stared at her, my patience dwindling. By this point, Laxus had been in Novus Ordo's grip for at least five hours... I shuddered to think of the shit that they were doing to him. It was time for drastic measures.

The small merciful moment that possessed me to let the others go had long since faded, so I felt no remorse as I commanded the blood to cover her mouth and nose, "Listen and listen well bitch," I growled out as I circled her, "You seem to have fundamentally misunderstood something about me. I am not, nor have I ever been, a hero. I took this job because I have personal ties to Novus Ordo, you see, this is the third time I've had to tear it apart piece by piece." 

Despite the fact that she was struggling to get the blood away from her face so she could breathe, I knew that she could hear me. Her eyes were riveted on me and they were wide as the implications of what I was saying sunk in. "I hope you realize that that means I've been killing members of Novus Ordo for over a decade and I'm more than willing to do it again. Will you tell me what I want to know, or do I have to leave you here?"

By this time I finished, she was convulsing slightly as she struggled for air but I was pityless, the Ghost of Fiore was back and I was more than willing to allow this woman to drown in blood. right before she passed out due to the lack of oxygen, I caused the blood to recede slightly, allowing her to take in a gulping breath.

"Y-You can't... Can't kill me." She said almost desperately, "I have... Information that... you need." Her tone was so hopefully desperate that I almost hated to burst her bubble. Almost.

Without warning, I released control of the blood and dropped her to the floor in an unceremonious heap, "You're half right," I said, pushing her onto her back with the tip of my shoe, "I need you to take me to your base, finding it on my own would be... Problematic. However, I am absolutely planning on killing you, your actions simply decide whether you die quickly or slowly; that's completely up to you."

The fear in her eyes showed me that she was close to breaking, so I crouched next to her and held up my hand, calling a small amount of the blood that was pooling all over the floor to swirl in my hand, "I'll give you ten seconds to think it over; how many times do you think you can go through that again before I kill you? It could be a lot."

Her voice rasped slightly as she finally called out, "I'll help you, please... Don't do that again..." And there it was, she was broken.

I needed nothing else as I stood and dragged her up with me, her limbs barely had the ability to function on their own, so I draped one arm over my shoulder as I pulled her with me, "Very well then, there's no time to waste, is there?"

The door's bell chimed merrily, a complete oxymoron to the situation as we exited and headed off to find Laxus. It was time that I showed Novus Ordo just how bad of an idea it was to keep gaining my attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay guys, super dark, I know... What do you all think of this sadistic side of Ember? I personally love it as it shows a small sliver of the turmoil that she deals with all the time.

Thanks for keeping with me as I've written this and I hope to catch you all in the next instalment!

-klypso01