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Bonus Chapter 3

Hey guys!

I'm back from Eid break! Here's another Bonus chapter from Arthur's POV. At this rate, I might end up rewriting the whole story from his POV :p

I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading!

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I was going back to the Order's headquarters with some of the junior soldiers stationed in the island. Visiting the Order would be a good experience for them. Most immortal youth were sheltered in their childhood and teenage years. These junior soldiers were barely out of their teens, being out in the city would be a good experience.

I also wanted to visit the Order's headquarter myself. It would be wise to keep an eye on things, and people; to not let everyone forget who was truly in charge as George had almost done.

I padded down the steps of my front porch to the black van waiting outside. Harvey and Amanda were coming up the steps. They looked confused.

"Where are you going?" he asked, turning as I walked past him.

"The city," I replied.

"Why?"

I paused and looked over my shoulder at Harvey. He might be the closest person I had to a friend, but he seemed to be forgetting himself. I raised one eyebrow. To his credit, he immediately understood. He sighed, rubbed his face and walked down the steps toward me. Amanda trailed after him.

"I apologize for overstepping," he said, stopping next to me. "You just seem all of a sudden very..."

"Very...?"

"Interested in matters, outgoing, determined," he said. "I don't know how to take the sudden change."

Amanda slapped her hand on her mate's chest. "What he wants to say is that he's worried. We both are."

Being worried about one of the Five was an exercise in futility. But because it was Amanda, because she understood part of the pain I struggled through everyday, I gentled my reply.

"You shouldn't be, Amanda," I said.

Amanda looked at me for a long time, then she nodded with one of her brilliant smiles. "Good. We'll see you later, then. Come on, Harvey."

Harvey wanted to stay and argue further, but his better half, as he often called her, pulled him along. Amanda was more perceptive than others gave her credit for.

I rode in the passenger seat of the van. The soldiers' voices died down. The boy who clutched the wheel like a life line next to me had a cap on. I plucked it off his head and put it on. It would help me stay unnoticed in the Order, at least for a while.

The van started forward. He drove decently until we were out of the island, then his speed began decreasing and the steering wheel groaned under the force of his grip. His eyes flickered around the road, his pupils unusually large. It must be his first time driving in the city.

"With the exception of the humans who might die if you hit them hard enough, driving in the city is just like driving in the island," I told him to put his mind at ease.

He gulped, and his speed decreased even further. Hmm. I guess my words did not offer much solace.

I looked out the window and focused on the real reason I was eager to go to the city again. Charles hadn't reported back for the day yet, and my patience was wearing thin. Then I realized that there was no reason why I should not go myself to check on things. And see a certain golden-haired individual.

Once we reached the city and the boy driving realized that the roads would not suddenly sprout trees or swallow us, his driving regained more confidence and his speed increased. We were almost at the Order when my phone pinged.

A message. From Harvey. A link. I opened it, and it sent me to a video footage. My interest peaked.

A live feed. Humans spoke in the background of the footage, I tuned them out and focused on the much more interesting images.

"Crap," the driver said, hitting the breaks when a few of the Order's cars bursted out of the parking lot right in front of us. They sped down the street.

"Follow them," I told the boy.

"Yes, Sire!" Wide-eyed, the boy turned the car around, pushing the gas pedal.

I focused on the video. Someone was filming out of what seemed like a second floor window. A horde of demons surrounded a car.

Charles, the fox and Elle Sanders were cutting through demons. My gaze narrowed. They seemed to be focused on Elle. Now why was that?

I loosened my hold on the phone when I realized it was straining. The thought of Elle Sanders being harmed when I had not yet satisfied my curiosity made me want to kill someone. My magic wanted to lash out. I reined in the darkness. From the video, she seemed to be handling herself rather well, and Charles was doing a decent job at keeping her alive.

It only took minutes for them to finish off the enemy, the dead demons littering the ground. The fox and Charles with their swords, and Elle with those toothpicks she used to fight. Why would a fighter as talented as she was not use a sword? Because I knew she could use it, it was written all over the way she moved.

Suddenly, Elle lashed out with her dagger. Blood sprayed, and a demon materialized.

The van skidded to a screeching halt. I looked up from the phone, annoyed at the interruption.

The Order's car in front of us and the one ahead of it were swarmed with reddish-skinned demons. Low level demons.

"It's time to put your combat practice to the test, ladies and gentlemen," I told the junior soldiers in the van. "Get to it."

They couldn't be told twice. The boy driving was out of the door with an enthusiastic gleam in his eyes. Driving scared him, but a horde of demons was cause for excitement. He was the quintessential immortal youth.

I stepped out of the car and leaned on the hood, watching them fight. It was great practice for them, and along with the Order's agents, they were doing fairly well against a group of around twenty five demons.

Unfortunately, the video had been cut off. I tucked my phone in my pocket and crossed my arms. Charles would keep her safe, and I would soon have her mysterious presence close enough to untangle.

The humans around us were smart enough to stay out of the way, although their fearful screams were a sore to my ears.

The stink of the demon's blood and entrails decorating the street brought back unpleasant memories of a time long gone when they'd walked the Earth as an army of ruin.

A few minutes later, we took the exact location from the agents and left them to deal with the mess here. It seemed there had been another demon attack in another location. If they had the same numbers, then this case had just grown from a minor inconvenience to a pain in my ass. Demons should not be able to move in such big numbers in our world.

We reached the scene to find Charles and the fox standing nearby while Elle held a demon hostage with her boot and her dagger.

"Clean up the mess," I ordered and we jumped out of the van. Humans were watching the show and filming. For the past decade or so, it seemed nothing could happen without someone pointing a phone at it, sometimes at their own detriment. Instead of making sure they were as far away from this mess as possible, weak as they were, humans were lingering around to get a shot of this. They could be fatally idiotic sometimes.

Charles headed straight for me. "Sire."

"What happened?"

"They were targeting the human," he said, referring to Elle. "They were attempting to kidnap her."

My anger was only slightly unexpected. I didn't want anyone touching her. I didn't want anyone hurting her. And why should I care about a human's fate? It was a question to which I did not yet know the answer. Or perhaps I was not yet ready for it.

Charles continued. "The demon back there is a mid-tier demon, at best. But the magic he was channeling is stronger. He had me and the nine-tailed fox paralyzed. I could only move a step."

I raised my brow. Charles' expression turned grim. "The human shrugged it off like it was nothing. Sire, I don't think she's-"

"Human. I know," I said, shifting my gaze to her. She was already looking at me. Ah, those blazing eyes. She did not look glad to see me in the slightest. How entertaining. "Anything else?"

"Other than the fact that she fights like a madman?" Charles grunted. "No."

Coming from Charles, that was the highest form of compliments. Now I really wanted to see her with a sword.

I left Charles and went straight to Elle. My magic settled down. It was almost eerie, how affected it was by her presence.

As soon as the demon noticed me, he began struggling. Elle looked about ready to drive that needle of hers into his chest. I was beside them in a blink, crouching with my hand on his chest.

"Keep still," I said. This one was certainly not strong enough to immobilize Charles. Being able to do it meant he was channeling his master's powers, as Charles had assumed. This kept getting interesting. Perhaps it was time to get involved in this.

But first... I straightened up as Elle put away her blades with the dexterity of a seasoned fighter. She handled them like an extension of her own limbs.

I motioned for two of the junior soldiers. They dragged the demon to the van. Charles and the fox lingered close by.

"He can make himself invisible," Elle said.

I took hold of the demon's mind with my magic. Being part demon myself, I had some affinities when it came to the annoying species. "He won't."

Elle looked like she wanted to bolt. She caught herself just in time, her face betraying just how little she enjoyed my presence. She scowled, no doubt in an attempt to keep her face from betraying her thoughts. What an amusing woman.

"The Order's backup was held up a few streets over," I told the fox, Irene. "Another horde of lesser demons. Call for a cleanup crew."

"Yes, sir!" She disappeared, Charles glanced at me then followed after her. Hmm. There was something there. But that was not what I cared about at the moment.

"You made an impression on Charles," I told Elle. She was still scowling.

She crossed her arms. "I live to impress."

"Mhm. You can stop scowling. It's not working."

Her face pinched. An angry kitten. I chuckled. A murderous angry kitten.

"Why was Charles affected by the demon's magic? Since you turned him into a vamp, isn't he supposed to be really powerful?"

And how did she know that. It was not public knowledge. Curious. "How did you know I turned Charles?"

She looked like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. She recovered quickly. "Well, didn't you?"

"I did," I replied, letting her off the hook for now. "The demon you caught is a mid-tier demon. Charles should be invulnerable to that level of magic. But the demon was channeling his master's magic. A high level demon. That is not easy to counter. Which brings up the question of how you were not affected."

Her reply was quick. "I thought we got that figured out yesterday."

I chuckled. "Indeed."

The notes of her blood were stronger. The dark stain on her side was considerable. Would a human have been well enough with such a deep wound? "You should get that checked out."

Her shoulders tensed a fraction. "It's fine. Just a surface wound."

A surface wound? I hummed. "With the wounds you sported yesterday, I would think a human like you would be unable to move, let alone fight the way you did. It's quite impressive."

A fake smile. I was yet to see a genuine one on those delicate features. "Thank you. Your compliments are improving. Keep up the good work."

She glanced over her shoulder at one of the junior soldiers. I nodded my head to the van. He scrambled off.

As she turned her head, light glanced off her hair. My fingers twitched. The scowl was back, and she pulled her hood over her head, covering the spun gold. I smiled. Perhaps she could read me as easily as I could read her.

"Let's go." I walked away to one of the cars.

"Where to?" She asked, her footsteps slightly uneven behind me.

Charles and the little fox's argument stopped as we approached. She was bringing up a side of Charles I had rarely seen. That was good for him.

"Clean up crew is here. Let's leave," I said. "You don't mind giving us a ride, Kim, do you?"

The fox straightened, her eyes rounded. "Yes, sir! I mean, no, sir! I don't mind!"

"Very well, let's go then." I opened the back door and looked at Elle. She simply stood there, stiff and wary.

"I think I'll stay here. I'll grab a ride with one of the cleanup crew."

She would not get out of my sight, not with the demon out for her. The very thought made my magic roar to the surface. She would not get out of my sight. "That wasn't a request, Miss Sanders."

Her eyes lit up. "I don't take orders from you."

The fact that she refused wasn't a surprise. The vehemency with which she did was. It only meant that the secret she was harboring was much bigger than I thought.

"Get in the car," I told Charles and the fox. They did, quietly. Now why couldn't she be as agreeable as they were?

I stepped forward until I could see the individual blond lashes sweep down over her eyes. Her face tightened. I was loathe to lose the only sense of amusement I had in decades, and as much as I enjoyed her spine, her safety was in line and I did not like that. Not one bit.

"Actually, Elle, you do take orders from me. I may let you get away with a little bantering because you amuse me, but when I give an order, I expect it to be obeyed. Now get in the damn car."

The wariness vanished from her face, taken over by temper. That temper would get her into trouble. She leaned her face closer, challenge written all over it. "Make me."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. The lightness in my chest was as foreign as it was welcome. The guilt that stripped me of every right to laugh or feel hopeful vanished in the face of this impossible 'human'. The lightness she induced battled with the darkness and won. I shook my head, part baffled but mostly vastly entertained. "What makes you so confident, I wonder?"

"How did it feel to be shoved out of my head yesterday."

She did have a point. Although if I truly put my mind to it, I could strip her of her will as easily as I could a human. Maybe. With this woman, no one could truly know. "I must say, it had been a long time since someone was able to do that." But that wasn't our issue. "Why don't you want to get in the car with me?"

She blinked, never taking her eyes off of mine. She never did. "It has nothing to do with you."

I could bundle her up with my magic and shove her into that car with a simple thought. But I found the idea to be unexpectedly unpleasant, and my magic seemed reluctant to do it. I usually did not have an issue with maneuvering people the way I saw fit. This might be troublesome.

I sighed. "Either get in the car or you're off the case."

Her eyes widened. "You can't do that!"

What a ridiculous thing to say. "Sure I can."

"That's not fair."

Hmm. Perhaps it was not. But it was a way to keep her safe. With me. I stepped back and held the door open, waiting. The agents around us were ostensibly busy cleaning up the site, but everyone's attention was on us. After a few seconds, she glared at me with so much fire of I half expected myself to go up in flames.

She rounded the car and got through the other door. I chuckled. What a temper.

With all four of us inside, the car started forward, following the van carrying the demon.

As we passed by a site of another fight, her expression mellowed from fury to thoughtfulness. "Too many," she whispered, barely audible.

Her grasp of the workings of our world, of the fact that demons in these numbers were in no way natural, only cemented my belief about her. "About one hundred, including the demons you slayed. Three locations."

She turned her head toward me. My magic jumped, sucking up her attention like thirsty soil. "Is this why you're suddenly interested in the case?" She asked. "The uprising in demonic presence?"

I turner toward her, my hand on the back of the seat only a breath away from her hair. She noticed and moved away, glaring at me.

"Why?" I asked, genuinely interested in her opinion of me. "You think I don't care about human lives enough to get involved?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"The lives of a few humans are not even a snippet of the time most of us will live."

She frowned. "So you really don't care? Even if the Order's director was doing whatever he pleased?"

I chuckled, remembering George. I would have to thank him later for misbehaving. If he hadn't, Elle Sanders wouldn't have been involved in the case and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of having her around. "Yes. The director seemed to have been taking liberties in the city over the last few decades."

She frowned. "I thought you're supposed to be like, his boss, or something. Yet you didn't know what he was doing?"

His boss. Such a human way to put it. She might not be human, but she certainly lived as one long enough to think like one.

"Ah, Elle, you seem to have an unusual interest in our workings for a human."

She hitched a shoulder, feigning nonchalance in such an unconvincing way it was endearing. "Just curious."

She turned her attention away to the window. Too bad.

Charles made a brief report of the case and the events of the day. I listened with half an ear, aware of the green-eyed mystery next to me growing stiff as we drove past the Order.

She straightened in her seat, her eyes growing wary. "Where are we going?"

"Mackworth Island, as the humans call it," I said.

She bit her bottom lip. Her hand instinctively went to the sheath strapped to her thigh, and she looked like she wanted to curse. She must really not want to be any close to me than she must. How very disappointing for her, since I planned to do the exact opposite.

The island came into view, and I remembered the spell that concealed the Island's true image from humans. Most immortals sensed strong magic spells of that nature. So I watched Elle carefully, closely, as the car advanced through the causeway and we breached the spell's boundary.

Her eyes squinted and she blinked hard a few times. I smiled. Oh, yes. She certainly felt that.

Trees took over the scenery and the view became a familiar one, yet I watched her still even though there was no reason to.

We reached our destination and exited the car. While Elle was too engrossed in the new sights, I walked away.

"Make sure she stays here then join me. Have some of the soldiers keep an eye on her," I told Charles through our telepathic link. His displeasure at the task was almost palpable, but I knew he would obey the order as he always did.

The van holding the demon was parked in front of the holding cells of the island. The structure was empty, the punishment methods on which immortals often relied were nothing as human as simple imprisonment.

The demon was hanging from the ceiling, his wrists chained above his head and his feet manacled to the floor. The barred opening in the wall lent very little light to the cell, darkness claiming its corners.

The three junior soldiers inside the cell, a shapeshifter and two vampires, were looking at the demon with similar hungry eyes. It might be their first time seeing one.

I was eager to be done with this so I could go back to my little mystery. Only the knowledge she was in my domain and would be for the foreseeable future made the darkness in me quiet enough to focus on the demon.

"Now," I said, dropping the cap to one corner, I strolled closer to the gray-eyed demon, smelling his blood and fear in the air. "Where is your master?"

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Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.

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