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Lyca Corp.'s lackeys were everywhere. They glided along the bustling street, and the crowds instinctually edged away as if the sharply dressed men were sharks moving through schools of fish.

Elijah could smell the blood and chemicals clinging to their bodies all the way from across the road, and as each of them headed inside El'Vorian Horizons, he resisted the urge to break his cover and go for their throats. Guards stood at every entrance, and he had to be careful. He couldn't let his weeks of observation go to waste. Not now.

He sipped from his latte, hiding his face behind a newspaper. While he pretended to read its words, he watched closely as each doctor and scientist walked through the security gates and headed deeper into the building.

And then he saw him. Doctor Benedict Harris. The sight of the old man's crusty, saggy face caused angst to clash with Elijah's festering anger; it made him remember what that man did to him. Harris stole everything from him, and Elijah wasn't going to stop until he found the man who made him feel something other than fury and desperation through the years of torture they endured together in Lyca Corp.'s lab.

But he wouldn't let his past hold him back. Not anymore.

He shifted his sights to another familiar face; the same red-haired girl that he saw going into that building every morning since starting his surveillance was making her way down the street, only this time she was holding a stack of files against her chest. He had no idea who she was, but he did know that she wasn't a Lyca Corp. doctor or scientist. She wasn't on any of the lists he got from the last guy he hunted down.

The girl's vibrant orange hair flowed to her waist, and despite the fact that it was the middle of winter, she seemed perfectly comfortable in a long pencil skirt and blouse. That was probably because she was a demon, though, and like him, she mustn't feel the cold.

Elijah watched her head inside; he tried to listen when she started arguing with the receptionist, but his heightened senses couldn't pierce the glass walls; all he got were muffled voices.

He rolled his eyes and slouched in his seat. It was going to be another long day of sitting, watching, and waiting, but today was the last he'd spend sitting outside the small coffee shop. He had everything he needed; all he had to do now was wait until dark.

So, he waited...and waited, watching the building like a hawk hour after hour. Rush hour hit and that was when he saw the orange-haired girl leave every day before, but she didn't come out this time. He didn't think too much of it, though.

It was 10 p.m.; the coffee shop closed, and Elijah headed down the street to where he left his bike. He pulled his leather jacket on over his hoodie, and when he sat down, he stared at the building to his right. In the dark of the night, the windows of the building to his left acted like a mirror, allowing him to watch El'Vorian Horizons while he lay in wait.

He took hold of the hand grips when he saw Doctor Harris come out through the revolving doors. As usual, there were two armed security guards with him, and Elijah knew his driver carried a gun, too. But it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Once the doctor and his guards got into the car, Elijah turned his keys and revved his bike engine. He waited until the driver pulled away from El'Vorian and drove out of the alley and onto the main road.

Keeping his eyes on Harris' black car, Elijah cut through the traffic and made sure he remained only a few vehicles behind. He followed the car off the main road and down several side roads, and when they reached Gaville Street, Elijah took the first left when the car took the second. He caught every glimpse of it through the gaps between each building, following it through the city and towards the highway.

When the car turned onto the deserted country road which led to Harris' mansion, Elijah switched his headlights off and reached into the hidden compartment on the underside of his bike. He pulled out the silenced pistol from inside, and while keeping his bike steady with his free hand, he sped up a little and started overtaking the car—at least that was what he wanted it to look like.

The moment he was lined up with the driver, he lifted his pistol and shot the guy in the head. He immediately fell limp, and the car started spinning out of control.

Elijah backed off and observed as the car skidded and started rolling. He could hear the doctor screaming from the inside while his guards yelled out fearfully, and after a few tumbles, the car settled on its roof and slid across the road until it came to a slow halt over by the median.

Once he stopped his bike twenty yards from the car, Elijah quickly made his way over to it. One of the guards kicked the right door open, but before he could get out, Elijah shot him in the head. Doctor Harris screeched from inside, and the other guard fired a shot. But Elijah swerved away from the open door in time to miss the bullet and took cover by the front of the car.

"Who's out there?!" the guard demanded. "Show yourself!"

Elijah silently moved around the other side of the car, and when he reached the closed door, he peered inside and saw the guard aiming his pistol at the open door while Harris cowered behind him.

"What the fuck is going on, Dorian?!" Harris exclaimed, gripping the back of the man's coat.

"Stay calm, si—"

Elijah shot the guy through the window, and when his blood sprayed everywhere, and his body dropped forward, Harris screamed again. The guy scrambled for the guard's gun, but Elijah forced his fist through the window, grabbed Harris's arm, and yanked him out of the car.

"Who are you?!" the guy shrieked, trying to look behind him as Elijah dragged him a few feet from the car. "What do you want?!"

Elijah snatched the guy's collar, pulled him to his feet, and pinned him against the median. "This is going to go one of two ways," he growled, glaring at the man's horrified face. "Either you be a good little doctor and tell me what I want to know, or you piss me off and leave me no choice but to start removing parts of your body."

Harris' eyes widened in horror as he stuttered and sniffled. "I-I-I don't know what you want from me. I—"

"Where is Haru Mochizuki?" Elijah questioned.

The man frowned and shook his head. "I-I don't—"

"Wrong answer," he snarled, moving his face a little closer to Harris' as he bared his four fangs.

Harris whimpered and closed his eyes as he shakily pulled a crucifix from below his shirt. "D-demon! Get away from me!"

"Tell me where you took Haru!" Elijah demanded, snatching the pathetic piece of metal from him. He tore it from his neck and tossed it onto the road.

The doctor quavered and gripped Elijah's wrist. "You killed Dorian and Ja—"

"Where the fuck is Haru?!" the demon yelled furiously, losing his patience.

"I don't know who that is!" Harris cried.

Of course he was lying.

"You know exactly who that is, you miserable piece of shit," Elijah growled. He let go of the man's collar and grasped his throat instead. "And you know who I am."

Harris trembled and snivelled, but when he opened his eyes to glance at Elijah, a look of realization struck his snotty face. "I...0333?"

The demon tightened his grip. "Tell me where Haru is—0547."

"I...it's you!" Harris exclaimed. "You're the one who's been killing all my old colleagues, aren't you?"

With a frustrated growl, Elijah extended his claws from his fingernails and dug them into Harris' waist. "Answer the fucking question or my claws start playing lucky dip with your organs."

The man yelped and grimaced. "I don't know where they took him!" he wailed. "They never tell me any—"

"You were their supervisor. You knew everything that was happening in that lab."

"Once a subject leaves my site, I have nothing to do with them anymore, I swear!"

Elijah pushed his claws deeper, and when the tips of his fingers crept into the man's flesh, Harris screamed painfully. "Clock's ticking."

"I-I...y-you...R-Ronan knows! Y-yes, Ronan Palmer," he said desperately, nodding. "H-he organizes all the transfers."

Ronan was a new name. Elijah didn't know him from his time at the labs, but listening to Harris' pulse told him that the man wasn't lying. He wasn't finished, though.

However, before he could ask his next question, a muffled voice came from inside the car, followed by frantic banging.

Elijah tightened his grip on Harris' throat. "Who is that?"

"N-no one, I—"

He growled at him.

Harris whimpered. "S-some journalist woman."

"Why is she in the trunk?"

"S-she was...digging into El'Vorian business! She had all this stuff that we didn't want getting out, so—"

"So you kidnapped her like you kidnap kids from their families?"

Harris stuttered. "W-we never kidnapped anyone! All of our subjects were given to us willingly, including you, 0333."

That was a lie. "You took me from my family," the demon growled, squeezing the man's neck so hard that his eyes started oozing from his skull.

The woman in the trunk started screaming and kicking louder.

Elijah was done with Harris. He had his next lead, which was exactly what he came for. So, as the man gagged in his grip, he pulled his claws from his waist and twisted the man's head with both hands, killing him instantly. Then, he headed to the car trunk and used his strength to pull it from the car.

It was her. The orange-haired girl he saw going into El'Vorian Horizons every morning rolled out onto the road, tied and gagged. She hastily wriggled onto her back, and when she set her green eyes on him, she tried to scream through the black tape keeping her mouth shut.

For a few moments, he watched her writhe around like a worm trying to escape from thick mud. He wanted to leave her, but if she'd managed to dig so deep into El'Vorian's business that it made Harris feel like he had to kidnap and dispose of her, then what she knew might be of use to him.

Elijah tucked his pistol into the back of his trousers and crouched beside her. He then pulled the tape from her mouth—

"What do you want?!" she immediately yelled. "I'll give you anything! Please don't hurt me!"

He frowned and went to speak—

"I-I have money! Do you want money? I can—"

"I don't want your fucking money," he snarled irritably. But before he could ask her what she knew, the sound of police sirens echoed behind him. He focused for a moment, and when he sensed the distorted auras of over twenty incoming men, he knew that he was out of time.

They were coming, and they knew it was him.

"Then what?" the girl questioned, trying to wriggle free. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

Elijah tried his best to remain calm as he hastily pulled the journalist to her feet and dragged her with him towards his bike.

"Let me go!" she insisted, attempting to break free. But when they reached his bike and she turned around, seeing the bodies, she gasped and went a little pale. "Why did you kill them?"

"Get on," he told her as he sat on his bike and tugged on her arm.

"W-why?!"

"Because if you stay here, those detainers are going to kill you," he told her, starting the engine.

The girl looked in the direction the sirens were coming from, and then shifted her sights to Harris' car again. "Are you gonna kill me?"

"No, because you have information that might be useful to me," he said with a grunt, forcefully pulling her onto the back of his bike.

She protested, but when he abruptly took off down the road, she shrieked and gripped the back of his coat as best as she could with her tied hands.

Elijah stared into his right mirror, watching as the police lights got closer. He drove faster and faster, hoping that he'd get far away enough in time so that the detainers wouldn't be able to detect him once they reached Harris' car.

"Doctor Harris called you 0333," the journalist said. "You're...one of them, aren't you? One of Lyca Corp.'s illegal exper—"

"Either shut up or I'll throw you off," he warned her.

She went silent.

Elijah's worry started fading. He got further and further away from the flashing lights, and when he approached a fork in the road, he turned right—

All he heard was a deafening gunshot as agonizing pain shot up from his thigh and electrified through his entire body. He lost control of his bike, and when the front wheel twisted, he went flying off and crashed onto the road.

He came to a slow halt, tumbling along the concrete. All he could hear was ringing in his ears, and as the pain got worse, he grunted and groaned, gripping his bleeding thigh. He struggled to sit up, and when he saw the amount of blood oozing from the bullet wound, he gritted his teeth and uttered, "Fuck."

Another deafening shot was fired. This time, Elijah swiftly rolled out of the way, and the shimmering silver bullet hit and burrowed into the concrete.

They had a sniper.

He climbed to his feet with a wince, stumbling towards the trees while putting as much pressure on his wound as he could. When he reached the tree line, he leaned against the closest sycamore and located his bike. But it was too exposed; the only chance he had of getting away was disappearing into the woods.

Twigs snapped behind him.

Elijah looked over his shoulder, and when he spotted the journalist fleeing, he snarled irritably and started chasing after her.

"Get away from me!" she yelled when she realized he was on her trail.

But Elijah quickly caught up, snatched her arm with his free hand, and veered to the right—

Another bullet missed them by inches, sending a flurry of dirt and leaf litter into the air where it struck the ground.

She screamed and stumbled. "What the hell is going on?! Who are you!?"

Elijah raced deeper into the woods where the trees were huddled so closely together that the detainer's sniper wouldn't be able to get a clean shot. But he was getting weaker; he was losing too much blood, and if he didn't find somewhere to rest and heal soon, they'd find him.

He'd rather die than go back there. But he couldn't give up. He had to find Haru. He had another lead, and he needed to follow it.

The girl stopped attempting to get away from him. "Where are you taking me?"

Elijah tried to focus his senses to see if the detainers were following, but the silver bullet embedded in his thigh was stealing his strength. He probably only had a few drops of ethos left, and he had to use it to get as far away from them as possible.

He stopped by a tall boulder and leaned against it for a moment, catching his breath. Then, he stood in front of it and tried to open a rift, but he didn't have enough energy to do so.

With a frustrated snarl, he slammed the boulder with his hand.

"What?" she asked, panicking.

She was a demon, too, wasn't she?

He turned his head to look at her. "Can you create rifts?" he breathed, his heart racing, and his head pounding as the silver ensnared his body with fatigue.

The journalist nodded. "Y-yeah. But where—"

"Anywhere," he snapped. "Now!"

She nodded frantically, and as he moved aside, she stood in front of the boulder. Then, when a dark, sizzling slit cut through the rock and parted to form a portal, Elijah grabbed her arm and hurried inside. He had no idea where it led, but as long as it was away from the detainers, he didn't care.

But wherever he ended up, he wouldn't be able to stay long. Lyca Corp. now knew that he was in the city, and they'd probably already begun putting their detainers on every street corner.

His next target was Ronan.He'd heal up, grab some more gear, and begin his hunt. And hopefully, Ronan would lead him to Haru.

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✧ Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! ✧

♛ What was your favourite part? ♛

✟ How do you feel about Elijah and the journalist so far? ✟

✙ What do you think will happen next? ✙

❖ Got any questions? ❖

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