They navigated halfway through the city and reached Stoney's Pub just after seven. The little hole in the wall was located in an alleyway off Martin Street. If a person didn't specifically know where it was, they wouldn't ever be able to find it. A few humans did manage to accidentally stumble onto the joint from time to time and were served just like regular customers, so as to not raise suspicion, but the majority of the clientele were Darksiders. A Warlock could order a greasy burger and a warm beer, a Shifter could order a steak bloody raw and a glass of cheap scotch, and a Vampire could order a bottle of Stat to ease his thirst if he was in a pinch.

Seth the barkeep was a Warlock and Bethalie had been to Stoney's Pub to speak with him twice already, so she was well aware that her presence was not exactly welcomed there. And she really doubted that having Mace walk in with her would help, but he seemed astute and possibly could prove useful. He could play Velma to her Fred while they were out.

Bethalie had Noah park the van at the mouth of the alleyway and they walked to the rusty metal door halfway down the narrow passage. It wasn't quite late enough for the bar scene to be in full swing, so they stepped into a fairly empty space. It reeked of grease and stale beer and the place was as cold as a meat locker—to please the Darksiders—and lit only with a few dingy yellow bulbs hanging over the booths and tables. It really was a hole in the wall, but the Darksiders liked to hang out there. Not a lot of Vampires frequented the spot, though. It wasn't swanky enough. No bouncer to keep out the less beautiful.

She spotted Seth the barkeep as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and walked straight over to the bar where he was drying glasses, getting herself into work mode as she went. "Hello, Seth," she greeted, plopping down on a bar stool in front of him.

She noted Noah was still by the door, looking around with no small amount of disdain, while Mace followed her over and sat down beside her.

Seth looked at Mace, raising a brow. "Is he with you?" the lanky, blonde haired man asked.

"He is," she answered.

"Uh..." he blinked confusedly several times, unsure what to do with Mace, who ordinarily would have been sent to the upstairs portion of the pub.

"I need to ask you some questions," she said, drawing Seth's attention back to her.

"On the hunt again?" It's been a busy couple of weeks for you," he said amicably, going back to his glasses.

"I want to ask you about Jack Dunning and Adam Turner. I know they both came in here and that you were friendly with them on some level, right?" she said, cutting right to the chase.

"Sure. I already told you, we'd pass the time of day and shoot the shit when they were in here," he shrugged. "I don't know if I'd say we were best friends or anything."

"You didn't offer up a whole lot of information when we last spoke, but this time around, I'd really like you to try and be more...helpful, Seth," she said, setting her gaze on him while injecting a bit of ice into her tone. "And you can start by providing me with any names that you think Dunning and Turner might have in common."

"You've been hunting them. Wouldn't you know that better than me?" Seth asked.

Bethalie felt her jaw clench. "I was hunting them separately, not trying to link them together. And since you and this bar are the only common factors that I can come up with at the moment, I'm hoping you can cough up something useful."

"I can try," the man replied with a shrug.

"Then try," she said through her teeth.

She wasn't one for hemming and hawing and she was about a minute away from beating him senseless simply because he wasn't answering her fast enough.

Seth offered an easy grin, as if he shouldn't be fearing for his life. "Like I said, we weren't best friends, but I did see them here or there at a random party. And they both spent a couple of nights a week in here, slumming it with the rest of us, probably because they couldn't afford the admission fees to the clubs five nights a week."

Bethalie sighed, drumming her fingers on the bar top. Seth did like the sound of his own voice.

"As you already know, neither of them have been in for a while, due to having a very determined Ward after them. But, the last time I saw them did happen to be right here."

If he didn't hurry up and fork over something she could use, whatever that was, she was going to kill everyone in the place.

"I do recall them both speaking to a Warlock that's a regular. I believe...the last time I saw each of them, they were speaking to him."

"What's the name?" she urged, desperate to pummel him into a pile of nothing. Why was he so slow with the information!

"Lance Morgan," Seth replied.

Finally! "Have you spoken to Lance Morgan yourself?" she asked.

"Everyone has. He's a mouthy little guy, drones on like a radio."

"And what does Lance Morgan drone on about?" Bethalie queried.

"Oh, the usual stuff. His yearly income, his girlfriend that he claims is a Daylighter, his three bed, two bath condo over on Market Street, how much his loafers cost, how much his Rolex costs. And now that I think about it, I'm certain I saw him talking with both Vamps at different times before they went MIA," Seth stated matter-of-factly.

Lance Morgan, seen speaking with both Vampires just before they dropped off the radar. It was probably nothing more than each of them asking him for a light or where he bought his shirt, but it was something. So, she had to go with it.

"I suppose that's all you're able to tell me about them?" she wondered, knowing that it was a matter of Seth being willing to offer more details than being able to offer them.

"That's all I can dredge up at the moment, I'm afraid," he shrugged, meaning that he was through with talking and if she wanted anything else out of him...it'd have to be forced out.

She didn't want to do that, though.  Seth was at least a semi-useful source of information.  Sometimes.  And beating him senseless would end the little rapport they had going.  So, better not to risk ruining it just yet.

"Thank you, Seth," she said, pulling out her wallet and tossing a few bills onto the bar. "I'll be back if I need anything else from you."

"I'll be waiting with baited breath," Seth returned with a grin. "And good luck with your hunt, Ward."

Bethalie slid off the bar stool and headed for the exit, Mace following behind her. They picked Noah up at the door, where he seemed to be frozen in disgust. Back out in the alleyway, she drew in a long breath and let it slowly out. Dealing with that one was like pulling teeth.

Pointing herself toward the end of the alleyway, she pulled her phone out and hit the button, waiting for the electronic tone. "Evyn, are you ready to work?"

"Always," Evyn said back.

"Lance Morgan. Warlock. Lives on Market Street. Spends a lot of time at Stoney's Pub," she said.

"On it. Give me a minute or two. Out."

Bethalie put her phone away and continued on toward the van, still annoyed that Noah was the one driving. Once they were seated, there was nothing to do but wait for Evyn's call, which thankfully came within a couple of minutes.

"Bethalie, I've got him," Evyn said, her voice filling the van.

"Go," Bethalie replied.

"Lance Morgan, 415 Market Street. Unit 8. Excellent credit report. Fairly sizeable bank account. I can't even find a car payment that's been late. Several credit cards...uses one at Stoney's a lot. Buys a lot of designer labels for women...Gucci, Chanel."

"He's supposedly dating a Daylighter," Bethalie cut in.

"Lucky girl," Evyn said. "Lance appears to have a nice income. Eats steak three times a week. He drives a Lexus, silver, license plate 386AXB. But, I can't find a place of employment. No W2 forms, no taxes filed, no health or life insurance through an employer. Yet, every week there are deposits into his bank account. Always the same. Five thousand five hundred dollars and fifty cents. But, I promise I can't find any record of employment. No social security taken out, nothing."

"His employment really isn't my concern right now. He may not even be important. Seth just happened to see him talking to both Vampires right before they went MIA," she announced.

"Well, it could just be a coincidence. But, you know how I feel about that," Evyn said. "I've got his DMV photo. I'm sending it."

Evyn was right. Once was a coincidence. Twice...that was a pattern.

Bethalie waited a second and then checked her phone, finding a picture of a pasty faced, dark haired man with rodent like features, wire framed glasses, and cold, dark eyes. He was repulsive. Looking at him actually made her flesh crawl.

"Did you get the picture?" Evyn's voice questioned.

"I've got it," Bethalie responded. This Lance Morgan looked like someone she would probably want to hit. Hard.

"Good," Evyn said. "I'll start searching for his nearest relatives in case you can't find him at home. Out."

Bethalie turned to Noah, showing him the picture on her phone and then allowing Mace to have a look. They were with her, so they might need to be able to recognize the face of the person they were going after. "Let's go. Hang a left two blocks down. We have to go over into the residential section."

Noah started the engine and moved them down the street. It was getting dark now and a light mist was starting to fall on the windshield.

"You and Evyn have this whole thing down, don't you?" Mace asked from the back seat, sounding impressed.

"We've been at this for a while now," she answered him, shooting him a quick smile.

"Evyn's a whiz on her end, I see. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for that kind of information," he admitted.

"Me either," Bethalie agreed. "That's why I'm out here and she's back there." She couldn't even turn on a blender, forget about hacking into data bases or whatever Evyn did.

As they drove through the streets, she kept her eyes focused on the alleyways and the people moving about, watching for anything that might need her intervention. Out of habit, mostly. She never knew when she might spot a Darksider doing something naughty. Case in point, Mace Donovan. But, the closer they got to the residential section on the West side of town, the fewer people there were on the sidewalks. Certainly, not many Vampires set up house in the burbs of Port Angeles. The city was much cooler.

The condo complex on Market Street looked fancy and was surrounded by fairly large homes and tree lined streets. It took a bit of driving around, but they found unit 8 near the middle of the complex and Noah pulled into an empty space right outside the front door. There was a silver Lexus in the space next to them, license plate 386AXB.

"We'll come with you," Noah said, eyeing the brick building as if it was the Devil's Den.

"No," she said firmly. "The girlfriend might be in there and we don't know if he's told her anything about what he is. If she's really a Daylighter and she doesn't know, I want to keep it that way." She did not want to have a human put down unnecessarily. Having Mace Donovan on her conscience was going to be bad enough.

"And how are you going to keep it hush-hush?" Noah asked, sounding somewhat accusatory.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, slightly miffed. "I know what I'm doing. I hunt people for a living."

"Look at yourself, Bethalie," Noah pointed out. "You don't exactly blend in with Daylight crowd. She's bound to know that something's weird."

"You don't exactly blend in, either!" she snapped. He actually looked like an extra from a Vampire movie!

"I think I pretty much blend in," Mace spoke up. "I can go talk to the guy. Or at least try to bring him out to the van. I can tell him Seth the bartender sent me or...something."

Bethalie felt herself balk. This was not the way she worked. She did not have anyone asking questions for her, even when she was dealing with humans, of which she was one. Technically. It wasn't like she was a snub-nosed Falek Demon. She wasn't that out of place!

"If the girlfriend answers the door, she might not be so willing to talk to a beautiful woman who's come looking for her boyfriend," Mace stated.

Pondering that statement, Bethalie could admit that Mace might have a point, but in that instance she would normally shove her way into the house and extract the answers she wanted by any means necessary.

Only this was a supposed Daylighter, so care had to be taken.

Damn!

"Fine!" she growled. "You can give it a try." She opened the door to let him out, but suddenly stalled. "Mace?"

"Yeah?" he asked, looking at her.

"If you try anything dumb, I'll have to hurt you," she told him plainly.

"Noted." Mace was allowed out of the van and Bethalie watched him walk up the path to the front door of the fancy, grey brick condo.

She kept her gaze on him as he rang the bell, knowing that whoever answered the door couldn't see them behind the tinted windows of the utility van. It took a few moments, but the door finally opened and the light that spilled out into the evening illuminated the person who opened it from behind. The person standing in the doorway, a woman that Bethalie instantly labeled as human, was petite and blonde and very nearly nude, wearing only a tiny pair of shorts—or was it panties—and a tank top that was meant to display her clearly enhanced cleavage.

Looking at the barely dressed woman, Bethalie would be surprised if Mace Donovan could remember how to speak. Darksiders tended mostly to stick with their own kind, for many reasons, but she could see why Lance Morgan had chosen to be with this Daylighter, if in fact she actually was his girlfriend. She looked like she should be splayed out in the center of a calendar.

"How do you know he's not asking her for help?" Noah wondered.

"I don't," she shrugged.

It didn't bother her too much that he might, though. If he did, she'd have to either put him down or tie him up and keep him in a closet until The Big Guys came for him. He knew the risks full well, so if he chose to do something...unfortunate, that was on his own shoulders.

"Why do you think someone would be killing your targets and draining them?" Noah asked, idly drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

"I have no idea," she answered, watching Mace chat with the half nude girl. "You're a Vampire. You tell me what someone would do with Vampire blood. And a lot of it."

Bodies, even the bodies of Vampires, held 5-6 liters of blood. She couldn't fathom what someone would do with it, other than ingesting it. And even Vampires didn't completely drain their victims. They mostly died from blood loss due to the wounds that would never clot.

Noah thought about that for a moment. "There are a couple of Demon breeds that I know of that will feed on anything, even a Darksider. But, a Demon wouldn't slit wrists. That sounds like something a Daylighter would do."

She tossed him a glance. "You really think a human could hold a Vampire down long enough to slit his wrists and drain his body?"

Noah shrugged. "You never know. Stranger things have happened, I suppose. For instance, there happens to be a Vampire sitting in a decked out utility van, helping a Ward hunt down a Vampire killer, and the Ward just happens to be holding a human hostage because her computer told her to."

He perhaps rather had a point. Anything was possible.

Mace turned and walked back to the van and the girl closed the door, blotting out the light. "He's not home," he said as he climbed in and Bethalie closed the door behind him. "He's at an office on 5th Street. He works nights doing I.T. analysis."

"He has to be home.  His car is right there," she pointed out.

"He drove her Porsche because it's a two seater. She needed his Lexus so she and her friends can all go out for a drink," explained Mace.

"Did you get her name?" Bethalie questioned.

"Kelli Malone," Mace responded. "That's Kelli with an i, by the way. And she drives a black Porsche Boxster with a license plate that says I O HIM. Her boyfriend thought that was cute."

Bethalie wanted to gag a little. That should have gotten the boyfriend a swift fist to the jaw.

Noah started the engine and backed out of the parking space. "How did you get her to tell you all that?"

"I told her I was a friend of Lance's from Stoney's Pub. She just sort of spilled everything after that. I didn't even have to ask," Mace answered.

"Really? Why would she do that?" Noah asked suspiciously.

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm ruggedly handsome and she's blonde. Really, really blonde," Mace answered.

Bethalie tried not to chuckle, but she couldn't help it. He was funny.

"Do we need to ask if you tried to tell her that you're in trouble," Noah asked stiffly, clearly not amused.

"I did not tell her that I'm being held hostage by a monster hunter and her Vampire sidekick," Mace answered. "If I wanted to try that, it wouldn't be with Blondie back there anyway. She'd forget what I told her before she even closed the front door."

For whatever reason, Bethalie believed him. "What was the name of the office?" she asked.

"Blondie thought Lance works for a Robert or Roger Dyskard. Maybe the business was called R. Dyskard Incorporated, but of course, she wasn't sure."

Bethalie pulled out her phone. "Evyn?"

"Go," came the immediate response.

"We need some information on R. Dyskard Incorporated on 5th Street. Owned possibly by a Roger or Robert Dyskard. Don't ask me about the precise spelling."

"On it. I'll get back to you," Evyn responded. "Out."

"Where am I heading?" Noah asked, leaving the condo complex.

"We're going to the East side of the Business District," she said. "It's all the way across town."

"Will we be able to get into the office?" Mace asked. "It's nearly eight thirty on a Sunday night. The business can't be open to the public right now."

"We'll get in," was Noah's riposte.

He was right. Noah had that Vampire charm thing going, which meant he could easily convince humans to do almost anything. And if the building had no human security guard to get through, then they would most definitely be able to get inside.

"Bethalie?" Evyn's voice called out.

"Go," Bethalie answered.

"I've tried to find R. Dyskard Inc., but I'm coming up with nothing flat," her assistant said. "It can't be a legal business. There's no license, no taxes filed with the government. Nothing."

"So, the girl lied," Noah said, shooting Bethalie a haughty look.

"Or Lance Morgan lied to her," Mace shot back. "I don't know if this means anything, but Dyskard spelled backward is very nearly Darkside."

"What's happening?" Evyn asked, sounding worried.

Huh. He was right. R. Dyskard could very well turn into...Darksider. Bethalie felt a rush of admiration for Mace, who clearly made a good Velma. "Evyn, Mace just pointed out that R. Dyskard spelled backward is a slight variation of Darksider."

Noah shot Mace a fiery glare, his handsome face tight with loathing.

"Wow, it does! I don't know why I didn't catch that!" Evyn said. "But, that means either he doesn't have an actual job at all or...he works for The Big Guys."

R. Dyskard Incorporated did sound like some shadowy off-shoot ran by The Powers That Be. And Lance Morgan was a Warlock, according to Seth, so it wasn't outside the realm of reasoning.

"Well, he has to get his money from somewhere and the amount is too set for him to be doing anything shady, like dealing blood," Bethalie stated. "So, if he actually is working for The Big Guys, we might never find him. He could be anywhere, doing anything."

And surely his girlfriend would alert him to the fact that someone had come to the house looking for him, which just might send him into hiding.

"Or maybe he could be working in the blood trade. He could be part of a syndicate? And if that's the case, he might receive regular sums of money. He could be...book keeping or running deliveries or...packaging the stuff for sale?" Evyn offered up those scenarios.

"Those are actual possibilities," Bethalie conceded.

Her two dead Vamps certainly could have been mixed up in something like buying illegal blood. They were on her list for breaking their diet, after all. Perhaps Lance was their source? Maybe they owed some money to the wrong people and those people had decided to take their pound of flesh, so to speak. Slitting the wrists and draining the bodies could be a warning to anyone else who might be behind in their payments?

"Its just chasing shadows, of course, but...I still don't think its a coincidence that Lance Morgan reportedly knew both your targets," Evyn stated.

"Well, even if Lance Morgan has nothing to do with snuffing out my Vamps, there's something hinky going on with him. And I'd kind of like to find out what he's up to," she said, acknowledging that her curiosity was piqued. "Did you find anything on his family?"

"Its nothing terribly useful. He transfers a little money every month into a bank account in Ontario belonging to one Ethel Morgan, who lives in a retirement village there. And his cell phone records indicate that he calls the same two numbers every day, like clockwork. A landline under the name of Ethel Morgan and a cell phone that I'm working on pinning down, but it looks like its a pre-paid, which will lead me nowhere."

"Well, keep at it and we'll make a sweep of 5th Street, since we're headed there anyway. Out," Bethalie signed off.

"Why are we still going there?" Noah asked, maneuvering through the streets as she directed him.

"Because, I check out every lead, even the ones I know will probably be dead ends." That's why she was so good at her job. Being thorough usually paid off in some small way, so it was worth the extra time and effort.

"So, am I hearing that there's a...a black market blood trade going on around here?" Mace asked disbelievingly.

Bethalie nodded, scanning the sidewalks as they drove. "There are some Darksiders who want to cash in on their peers' weakness for human blood. It's a High Crime, though, and the perpetrators are not treated kindly."

"Evyn told me about the...synthetic food...that everyone has to...eat. Wouldn't it be safer to just stick to that?" came the question.

"It would," she shrugged.

"Where does the blood come from?" wondered Mace.

"Hospitals, blood banks, morgues, human trafficking...it's never been pinned down," she answered. "But, moving human blood doesn't help The Big Guys in their effort to make sure that we aren't discovered. A Darksider who buys human blood is a Darksider who might one day feed on a human. So, the buyers and sellers are used as examples, if their caught."

"Hmmm. Seems like you're world isn't too far removed from the everyday one," Mace stated.

"I've never really given it much thought, but I guess not," she shrugged.

They drove across town in silence, which took nearly half an hour despite a decided lack of traffic. It was a long drive for Bethalie, who wasn't used to sitting by and doing nothing. She felt rather useless and she did not enjoy it.

"Here's 5th Street," Noah announced at last, making the turn. "This doesn't look like any place that a blood dealer would hang out."

5Th Street was a rather ritzy address. The sidewalks were perfectly kept and the buildings were tall, glass and steel structures that housed swanky offices and even swankier businesses, ranging from jewelry stores to high end clothing boutiques. There were cafes and coffee shops and a posh medical complex that took up an entire block. There was a parking garage straight across from the medical complex and another toward the end of the well-lighted street. As Bethalie debated driving through the parking garages just to see if the Porsche Boxster with the sickening license plate was in one of them, she heard Noah let out a sharp sigh.

"Well, this was a waste of time," he grumped as they slowly cruised down the deserted street.

"Maybe not," Mace said. "Look there."

They both followed Mace's hand pointing out the driver side window and Noah slowed the van to a stop. Sitting on the second level of the parking structure facing the medical complex was a black Porsche Boxster, along with several other shiny and expensive cars.

Hmmm. Perhaps being thorough had paid off, after all.

"Well, if the car is here, Lance Morgan has to be close by," Mace said.

"Come on! He might be anywhere. He could have walked blocks away!" Noah said, sounding irritated.

"Someone who drives a car like that isn't going to walk that far away from it," Mace said.

"How do you know?" Noah demanded.

"You know Vampires, I know humans," Mace stated easily. "And I know that a man who is driving a sixty thousand dollar car isn't going to park it that close to the street, in an unsecured parking garage, unless he can keep an eye on it."

Hearing that, Bethalie's gaze went straight out her window, to the massive building directly across the street. It was the medical complex, which was completely dark but for the very top floor.

"What should I do? We can't sit in the middle of the street," Noah said, his tone quite snippy.

"Just stay here for a minute," she told him, irritated and on the verge of giving him another ass beating.

Noah rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath. "Far be it from me to point this out, but there's probably more than one Porsche in the city."

"I can jump out and check the plate," Mace offered and without hesitation Bethalie opened her door and let him out, watching him hurry through the glow of the van's headlights and into the parking structure.

Bethalie hit the Walkie App on her phone. "Evyn?"

"Go," Evyn said.

"The Milton LaGuardia Medical Complex on 5th Street. I need to know exactly what's in that building. Sixth floor in particular."

"On it."

Noah let out another huff of air, expressing his boredom with the situation. "Really, Bethalie? A Warlock conducting some sort of shady business in a medical complex? It's a little farfetched. Even if he is involved in the blood trade, I doubt a syndicate would set up shop where so many human eyes might be on them."

Bethalie let out a sigh of her own. "Either be quiet and let me do my job, or get out of my van and go back to the loft!" she shot at him.

Damned cranky Vampire. How was she supposed to work with him yapping and pissing about?

In only a matter of a couple of minutes, Mace reappeared, jumping back into the van with a look of victory on his handsome face. "It's the right car. Lance Morgan has to be somewhere around."

Noah grunted and then lapsed into a pouty silence. Which actually saved him from being the next Vampire to be found in a dumpster.

"Drive down the street and find a place to park," she told him, wanting a minute to plot her next move.

Noah silently obeyed, finding an alleyway near the end of the street to pull into, which allowed the van to be somewhat hidden, yet still allowed them to keep an eye on the building. And then they waited for Evyn to call.

It took Evyn a stunning twenty minutes to get back to them, which was something that had never happened before in all their time together. "Bethalie?"

"Go," Bethalie said, relieved to hear the woman's voice. She'd started to think something had happened to her assistant that was keeping her from replying.

"Sorry it took so long, but I wanted to be thorough for you," Evyn said briskly. "The first three floors are physician's offices, patient exam rooms, labs, x-ray facilities. There's a lounge, a records room, and a supply room on the fifth floor. The standard stuff. However, the sixth floor technically doesn't exist. It isn't on any schematic for the building and it isn't permitted through the city. It's a phantom."

"So, the building should only have five floors?" Bethalie pondered, suddenly thinking the whole blood trade angle might not be such a shot in the dark.

What better place to handle that sort of product than in a building that was probably filled with all necessary supplies?

"Right. But, for a space that doesn't exist, it is highly secured. The building has a standard security system that's not even monitored. However, the non-existent sixth floor is secured and monitored by the best firm in the city," Evyn revealed. "And that means there's no getting into that part of the building, Bethalie, so don't even try it."

Damn! She wanted to get in there now! She didn't even know if Lance Morgan was actually inside or if the building had anything at all to do with The Big Guys or R. Dyskard, but how odd was a building with a phantom sixth floor that happened to be monitored by the best security firm in the city?

"Are you sure there's no way inside?" she asked, her curiosity burning.

"I've gotten into the security company's database and I'm telling you every door, window, and air vent is monitored. There's absolutely no way to get in, Bethalie," Evyn warned.

"Well, how good can the company be if their own system can be hacked?" Noah posed the question.

"The company is excellent. I'm better," Evyn answered him. "Don't hold what I can do against them." 

"Alright, Evyn. I won't try to make it inside. I'll just wait here and see who comes out," she told her assistant. "Will you be good on your own?"

"I always am," came the reply. "Try to remember to eat something if you can. You get cranky without food."

"Yes, Mom," she returned.

"And Bethalie, I'm serious. Unless you want to go to jail, do not try to get onto that floor," Evyn repeated the dire warning.

"I won't. Out."

"Are we doing a stake-out?" Mace asked, sounding interested.

"We are. After we make a food run. We can't pull an all-nighter on empty stomachs," Bethalie stated, hoping they weren't about to waste an entire night for absolutely nothing. "There's a pharmacy a few streets over. We'll stock up there."

Noah started the engine and pulled out of the alleyway, following her directions to the 24 hour pharmacy. Once inside the massive place, Noah went one way and Mace and she went the other. They loaded up on all manner of junk food and sodas, which she usually didn't eat, but what the hell. A few doughnuts never killed anybody. And Mace likely didn't have to worry about what the empty calories might to do him.

At the register, she almost figured that Mace would try to tell the cashier that he was being held hostage, but he didn't say a word. Maybe he thought no one would believe that little ol' her was holding a big, strapping man like him against his will. It did seem rather ludicrous. She could also see how it might even be a hit to his machismo.

Noah was waiting for them at the door and they all piled back in to the van and headed back to the medical complex, parking in the alleyway down the street. She couldn't see who would be coming and going, if anyone at all came or went, but she knew that Noah would be able to pick out faces, even thru the darkness.

And so their long night of chugging sodas and scarfing junk food began.

"Wouldn't it make more sense just to wait at this guy's condo?" Mace questioned as hour three rolled by. "We know he'll show up there."

"Actually, he might not. If his girlfriend called to tell him that someone was looking for him, he might not go back home for a while," Bethalie pointed out.

"Clearly, Tuck," Noah scoffed haughtily, enjoying the fact that Mace was slightly wrong in his assumption.

"Why would someone coming to see him keep him from going home?" Mace asked, confused.

Bethalie shrugged. "Darksiders are jumpy. Even when they don't have a reason to be. The slightest thing, like a stranger knocking on their door, can send them into hiding."

"Why?" Mace insisted. "I get strangers knocking on my door all the time. I had Jehovah's Witnesses just last week. They made me want to hide, but I didn't."

"Have you ever heard of The Burning Times?" she asked him, fidgeting around in her seat because her hind-end was dead asleep and it was terribly uncomfortable.

"You mean like during the Witch hunts in Europe?" Mace asked.

"Yes. A lot of Darksiders actually lived during those times or had loved ones who did. That fear still lingers. It wouldn't take much to have another Darksider mass genocide, so we all have to be careful."

"Oh," said Mace, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"What if this Warlock is in there, but he doesn't know anything? Then what?" Noah posed the question. He had his door wide open and the chill night air was flowing into the van, as if that helped to lessen all the silver she was wearing.

"Then I have to figure out where to go next. And I have absolutely no idea where that is," Bethalie admitted, already feeling helpless and it hadn't even happened yet.

If this lead fell through, as it probably would, she had absolutely no idea what she would do. Solving mysteries really wasn't within her realm of study. Killing the bad guy after the mystery was over and done with was where her true talents lay.