"Everyone will die.. and there's nothing you can do."

"Isn't that the point of why I'm here? To kill them?"

"It was, but is it really what you want?"

"Well why else would I be here then? Just to possess a human and eat their food?"

"But what about Nadwe? Wulvic seems to like him."

"I don't have a problem with the kids. That would make me as bad as Lew killing me when I was fourteen."

"But what about what happened on the twenty-third? You didn't have a problem with Socks either."

"Well that's different and you know why.."

"That doesn't matter. You're just a pathetic hypocrite."

"He was helping me. I'm not hurting someone straight after they help me out."

"Quite contradictory with your goal to kill them all, isn't it? If you're so sure about that, explain what that situation two days ago was about?"

"Nadwe provoked me."

"Sure, sure."

"I wasn't actually going to kill him.. I was just scaring him a bit. If I did kill him I'd only be more of a hypocrite than I already am."

"You're getting weak again, little hybrid. They're only discovering more and more about you, so suck it up and kill them before they kill you."

"But it was my choice to do this and agree to your stupid deal."

"So you better keep your promise. You want them back, right?"

"Of course I do- and I will."

"What's wrong, Blaze?"

"Shut. up. Do not call me Blaze."

"You know what I can do to you if you don't do what I say."

"But it's only to make me stronger either way."

"..."

"Correct..?"

"Why, of course. I would never do such things just for my enjoyment."

"You seem a bit-"

I was startled by the sound of Socks' door creaking open. I turned to see an eye staring at me through the crack. It was green, which meant it could have been Tbh or Laff. I didn't care whoever it was, but I raised my voice and simply said,

"What."

The pupil of the eye shrunk in fear, and Tbh's voice shakily questioned,

"Who were you talking to?"

I knew he'd ask, and I snapped back,

"Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering. I was going to talk to S-Socks but I guess I'll come back later."

I scoffed, finding his sentence funny. Eight-hundred years alone really affects you I guess. I deadpanned,

"Good luck talking to him. The man doesn't even know who he is. Heck- I'll be surprised if he remembers you."

Tbh opened the door fully, blinding me with light from the hallway. Wincing and taking a couple steps back to shield myself, I growled slightly from the pain. I had kept the window's blinds shut, so I never had time to get used to the light from outside. His face became more anxious than it was before, but he persisted,

"Come out to the room next to the stairs."

"Why should I?"

"We want to talk."

I chuckled again, accidentally biting my tongue with my molars. I winced again, but I apathetically replied,

"Okay, don't count on me though."

Tbh was getting annoyed, and it was spread out all over his face. He pointed out,

"You realize that it's like twenty-five steps away from you right?"

Just to make him more annoyed, I carelessly responded,

"Mhm."

I then strutted over to Socks' bed and laid down, my head at the footboard. I then crossed my legs and put my hands behind my head. I spread my tentacles to reach each corner of the bed, making sure I took up every part. I only stared at Tbh dead in the eyes with a look that said "make me".

The crab stayed silent, staring at me. He then looked out the doorway to his right, a panicked look in his eyes. I assumed the others were in the room next to the stairs, since he lipped something I couldn't make out. I raised my voice,

"Is there something you'd like to share?"

He looked back at me, a look of determination on his face. I resettled, sitting on the edge of the bed, not concerned that Tbh had started marching over to me. He snatched my wrist with his fabric crab claw, sending a shock of pain up my forearm. I winced slightly, but he started walking out the door. Struggling to resist the urge to slap him across the face or scratch his bicep to the point of blood-draw, I followed for pain's sake.

He led me to the room next to the stairs, and I immediately felt how tense it got as soon as I walked in. Everyone stared at me, mostly terrified but also a bit annoyed. Glaring at Tbh, I yanked my wrist out of his grasp, irritating my wrist even more. He jumped at my slightest movements, so I wanted to experiment. I simply waved to the six of them in the room, and the looks on their faces were golden. I greeted,

"Hello, again."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dino look around the doorframe into the room from the kitchen, then immediately shrink back out of view.

First victim..

Laff had taken a breath in to talk, which I ignored with a smirk on my face as I stomped towards the kitchen. Nadwe held his breath in the chair he sat in, which I tapped him on the head to make him let out a squeak of terror as I passed behind. I turned the corner, only to see Dino staring at me with round eyes, a stone-cold face, and a steak-knife in his grasp, which had been faced towards me. I kept a nonchalant expression, stepping closer to the humanoid reptile, making him melt into the metal cooling-box behind his tail.

Still, he pointed the blade out toward me. Still, I advanced toward him. I eventually stood right in front of the blade. He uselessly exclaimed,

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! I-I'M ARMED!"

He then put the blade to the side of my neck, showing he was willing to cut it. A bold move of him, if I do say so myself. I only stared at him, a dull and bored expression across my face. I stepped just a bit closer, feeling the sharpness of the blade. It must've been used a lot, because it had some pretty dull serration. Nothing that could do much damage to thick skin, but it was on the neck. As I stepped forward, Dino's face increased with horror. It was obvious that he didn't have the heart to hurt his friend, especially in a place that could potentially kill him. I simply lowered the knife with a finger, which made Dino forfeit his strength and lower it until it was level with my armpit. Keeping a finger on the knife, I whispered,

"Wouldn't want to hurt Socks, would you? He's innocent."

Despite his face, he whispered back,

"I never said I was going to hurt Socks."

"Oh, really? How is that going to-"

In the middle of talking, a strike of pain shot up my left hand and top left tentacle. Dino had flipped the knife over under my hand and slit my claw, as well as shallowly slicing my tentacle from the follow-through. He dashed around me and from what I heard, and down the hallway. I quickly regrew the claw, as it was never "attached" to the finger, it was only hardened aphanzite iodide. As for the tentacle, I couldn't do much at the moment. It just had to heal like the top right. I spun around, seeing Laff and Tbh in the doorway connecting the kitchen and room next to the stairs. They looked at each other, then looked back at me. I snapped,

"What."

Laff asked,

"Is Socks going to be okay?"

"Mentally, emotionally, or physically?"

"Physically-?'

I replied,

"No. He's dying. He got a scratch on his finger."

Tbh gave me an annoyed look before slinking back around the corner. All I wanted to do was give Dino a little scare, so I didn't bother to chase him.
____________________
-Meme POV-

"Woah.."

I flew around the newly discovered cavern, phasing through stalagmites and stalactites alike. Everytime I did, it felt like I was the surface of a pond. Rippling, echoing, and flowing alike. The natural browns, grays, and blacks of the cave made me feel somewhat calm. I was able to simulate the sensation of breathing easily and calmly.

That was until I stopped dead in my tracks after a pain stabbed through my neck and chest. Exactly where Gulvic had taken my life. I felt constricted, exactly like in my dream.

I thought ghosts couldn't feel pain?!

It felt like I was paralyzed, making an artificial rush of adrenaline pump through my plasma. Even after ten whole days of being a ghost, I still managed to feel the pain of my esophagus being contorted, crushed, and collapsing in on itself to the point I couldn't gasp for a gulp of air. I didn't even have a neck to breathe through anymore! Despite the pain, I looked around for the source of it. My vision landed on a pained Woolfster in the same position as me. He was gripping his chest with his right hand, slightly crumpling the map with his left, and visually expressing his agony with his entire form. Woolf grunted out, reading my thoughts once again,

"I don't know either-"

Prying my eyes off of Woolf, I glanced to Muffin, who completed the triangle between the three of us. He growled,

"Could we please figure out what is happening?"

"I don't know what you want me to do!"

I was panicked, like anyone would be. Attempting to ignore the throbbing of my collar bone that wasn't really there, I zoomed around the subterranean setting. I flew until I sped right past a purple-blue glow, coming from a hole in the wall. As curious as I was, before I could even glide a scream of pain slipped through my throat. Whatever was emitting that glow had to be what was causing this malady. It felt like I was choking, like a knife was penetrating through my vocal chords. I quickly flew past the glow, and after I did, the pain rippled away. I could still feel it, but it was one-hundredth of the pain from a few seconds before. Muffin and Woolf soon followed after me, stopping before passing the glow. I warned,

"Do not go near that hole. Neither of you."

Hearing my scream before, Muffin understood. He stayed next to the wall of the cave. Woolf however, decided to fly up to the hole instead. I stared at him, nervously waiting for him to suffer the same as me. Instead, his face matched the same expression as a gold-digger who just got an appraisal for a hunk for gold for a billion dollars. He yelled,

"I FOUND IT!!"

Me and Muffin gasped at the same time. Muffin laid his eyes on me, which is when Woolf gasped of not excitement, but pain. He gripped his chest again, darting away from the hole. I asked,

"Woah, Woolfster. Are you okay?"

"No- I suddenly got a shock of pain in my shots."

"But you were fine before, right?"

Muffin studied Woolf's bullet-wounds, followed by Woolf suddenly piping up again. Woolf breathed out,

"T-they're fine now-"

I shot a confused look at both Woolf and Muffin, who was still just staring at the gray ghost. I whispered to Woolf,

"I have a feeling we have powers like you. Muffin might have some sort of healing power. Try grabbing the tearglass."

He nodded, slowly floating back to the hole in the stone. Muffin's gaze followed Woolf, his green X-eyes glowing brighter than they normally did in darker places.
______________________________________
-Woolf POV-

Rubbing the pain away from my forehead and heart, I stared at it. I stared at the solution for our two problems that have been killing me since day one. I felt my tail wag behind me as I thought. I looked back at Muffin to make sure whatever his power was was working, and then turned back. I finally reached my hand into the hole, grabbing the tearglass by the golden ring. I loosened it from the rock it was implanted in, being careful not to scratch or chip the crystal in its center. Pulling it out, the blue-purple crystal continued to glow brilliantly as I grasped it. I looked at Meme, a smile plastered across both of our faces. I whispered,

"This is it, Meme."

He whispered back,

"It's going to be over."

I looked back at the ancient artifact, and the crystal no longer glowed indigo. I stared at it, trying to come up with some kind of theory to put my mind at ease. I was then startled by the spirit-pastry kid,

"So do we want to get out of here?"

Meme and I looked at each other, and handing the map over to Meme, asked,

"Wanna' be the GPS this time?"
________________________________
-Laff POV-

"Alright, we've tried crosses which were snapped in half, pans which were blocked even though he didn't even see them coming, his own past which was repeatedly ignored, knives which he somehow disarmed and turned the blade towards us... and Nadwe's marbles."

Blaza, Oompa, and Nadwe stayed quiet in my room.

"Any more ideas?"

Oompa sighed,

"I still don't know why we tried tripping Gulvic with marbles, are you kidding?"

Nadwe fought,

"I didn't think he'd kick them at your shins and ankles, Oompa."

"He's a serial killer, of course he would. I bet he'd somehow know how to kill you with a blade of grass."

"I'm a vampire. That's not possible."

Blaza raised his voice,

"Could we please stay on task? You two can have your prissy fight later."

Nadwe and Oompa reverted to being silent once again, and Blaza looked back at me. He said, clearly annoyed that all of our attempts had failed,

"No ideas."

Right after that, Ryzo took control to inform the four of us.
___________________________________
-Oompa POV-
Laff blinks, then Ryzo blinks. I jumped at the sight of Ryzo's tentacles emerging from behind Laff's shoulders, and I immediately felt my legs start shivering. My back went cold, as if I had tentacles of my own. I don't know how the rest of them could ever trust Ryzo. Just because he didn't kill two people, that doesn't excuse the one that he did kill. He's still a murderer, no matter what anyone says. Tbh seems to trust him the most out of all of us, which I find odd. The day right after your friend is shot and killed, you befriend the murderer, of all people.

Nadwe didn't seem to be bothered by the appearance of the murder demon, and Blaza seemed indifferent. I could tell that Ryzo gave a "warm" smile to the three of us from underneath the mask. Who knows if it was actually genuine though. He greeted, borrowing a hint of Laff's british accent,

"Hello, lads!"

I shot a nervous gaze at Blaza, who only looked back through his sunglasses and gave an awkward "why are you looking at me" smile. I again looked at Ryzo, who continued,

"I think I know something that could maybe scare Gulvic off for a small time-"

Blaza deadpanned,

"At this point, I think we'd try anything."

After what he said, I didn't think I'd end up with a sliced lime in my hand. I questioned Nadwe, who was next to me, pouring himself some lemonade,

"Are you sure that it's not oranges or something?"

In my mind, it seemed like a joke. What was a measly citrus fruit supposed to do to a demon? Nadwe replied,

"I've seen Socks drink orange juice and he was fine. If Ryzo is allergic to limes then we might as well see if Gulvic is too."

I glared at the vampire, and spat,

"You act like we're all immortal."

"It's not my fault I was bit by a vampire when I was seven."

"What, in the orphanage?"

"Yeah, actually. I still don't understand how that bat got into my closet."

I sighed, getting annoyed with Nadwe's serenity in the situation. He threw back,

"Don't get all mad at me for something I couldn't control!"

"If you're so great, how about you go and do this yourself? You can't die by being stabbed with a tentacle."

"It'd still hurt, but okay."

Nadwe snatched lime-half from my hand, still holding his lemonade. I watched in both horror and admiration as the teen walked out into the hallway, and down the basement stairs. After he was out of sight, I realized how stupid I was to let him go alone.

I'm the adult here! I should be the one dealing with this, am I stupid?!
______________________________________________
-Nadwe POV-

"Stupid, stupid, stupid little crino- or whatever the heck it's called.."

I passed the plaster that had been applied to the wall, which was still hardening. Of course, now we need to clean the wall since Gulvic decided to smear his tentacles across it.

"Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh why don't you go do it-"

Taking it as a stopping point, I sipped some of my lemonade and stepped on the concrete floor, stepping over a puddle of black. Maybe it was so Gulvic can follow someone's footsteps if they came down here, or if they were dumb enough, let them slip on it.

I shouldn't say that, I'm one of the two here with natural dark vision.

Following drops of black sludge on the floor, which eventually turned into streaks, I was halted when I met a wall. That's where the tracks stopped. It was very, very dark. So dark, even I couldn't see much, so long if it weren't for a sudden red glow from behind me.

I stayed silent and petrified.

I felt the lime juice gush down my hand as my subconscious mind squeezed it out of fear.

Drip, drip, drip.

It was almost rhythmic. It sounded from below and behind me.

Drip.. drip.. drip.

It started slowing down. I calmed myself, and stopped squeezing. But yet:

Drip. Drip. Drip.

It wasn't the lime. A shiver ran down my spine as he paraphrased from the last murder,

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Socks. A free punching bag."

I turned around to see Gulvic's malicious grin, a gentle red light seeping from between his mouth of fangs. Me, too stunned to speak, backed myself against the wall, still holding both sources of citrus in my hands.

This is karma isn't it.

Gulvic continued,

"Nadwe,"

His voice was surprisingly calm for someone who wanted to be alone.

"What are you doing down here?"

The left silt lost half of its length and tilted, as Gulvic flashed a confused expression at me. He asked,

"Also, why do you have a lime in your hand?"

I stuttered,

"U-uh-"

I held it out defensively, making me feel even more pathetic than I already did. He snickered, and his voice boomed,

"What're you going to do? Season me?"

He stepped forward and opened his chest mouth, making me remind myself of last time. Instinctively, I threw both the lime and my lemonade at him. From the red highlights of his eyes, I saw that some of the lemonade had splashed into the abdominal mouth, making Gulvic stop what he was doing. He simply stared at me in a twisted kind of disappointment, then hissed,

"Ryzo told you, didn't he?"

"T-told me what..?"

"That hybrids are allergic to citrus fruits?"

"Well, yeah, b-but I didn't mean t-"

He interrupted,

"Oh my gold."

He looked down at himself, spat out the lemonade and closed the chest mouth, grimacing as he tasted the lemon. He, I assume, cursed,

"That crindlig."

Again, red slits met my gray irises, annoyed. Actually, one of the slits was a lighter shade of red than the other. Before I could question it, the demon growled,

"Go back upstairs before I use you as a test dummy."

I immediately shrunk myself down, sprouted bat wings, and sped up the stairs. Once I got up, I saw Oompa hyping himself up to walk down the stairs. He turned to me, and seeing me unscathed, let out a sigh of relief. I metamorphosed into my humanoid self, and breathed out, letting go of my anxiety at the same time.

"He's allergic to lemons."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"He told me when I threw my lemonade into his chest mouth,"

It was a weird sentence to say aloud, but I continued,

"I need to tell Blaza and Ryzo."

Oompa nodded, and followed as I speedwalked to Laff's room once again. I'd hoped that Ryzo kept his promise, and that Blaza was alive. I slammed open the door, startling Tbh, Ryzo, and Blaza. Ryzo sat on Laff's bed, Tbh held what looked like an old book, and Blaza stood next to Laff's desk which was littered with blueprints and crumpled pieces of paper. Ryzo greeted,

"Hey, Nadwe!"

Finally, I could clearly see that Ryzo was no threat. I smiled back and said,

"Hi Ryzo!"

I then looked at Tbh and asked,

"Where have you been?"

He closed the book and showed me the cover, which read: The Unspoken War of 1214. He grinned, and exclaimed,

"I've been researching. Sorry, I've been wanting to show you all but Gulvic's always around. And, if he isn't, we aren't altogether."

He paused before finishing,

"And I just got the go-ahead from Ryzo."

"Ah, okay."

We all went silent, but we all shared the same fear. Tomorrow will be a gamble, for sure.
______________

Sorry if it feels like this chapter ended abruptly, I feel like it did at least. Anyways ITS FINALLY OUT WOOOOOOOO