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Voices echoed around inside Elijah's head. He could feel the blood trickling down the side of his face, and the thumping of footsteps on the carpet he lay on vibrated against his cheek.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" a distorted voice exclaimed. "W-what? Did the Venaticus send this guy? Are you telling me I gotta fucking move again?!"

Someone replied, "That's not what we're saying, boss. It's just—"

"It's just what?!"

"H-he's got white hair. He could be one of them," a woman insisted.

"No...no, no, no, no, no!" the first voice shouted. "I'm not giving it all up. Just kill this fucking guy and burn his body! We've made too much progress."

"How did he even find us?" someone else asked.

"Yeah, how did he find us?" the first man questioned angrily. "It seems to me like you're not doing your goddamn jobs—the jobs I pay you for!"

Elijah slowly opened his left eye. There were three men standing right in front of him—all he could see were their boots—and the first man he'd heard talking was leaning against the poker table, shaking his head while the other thirteen people glanced cautiously at one another. It was Ridge.

How the hell did they know he was coming? He'd missed something...but what?

"All right," Ridge said as he hastily snatched the money from the table and stuffed it into his pockets. "We gotta gather everything; the money, the guns, and the vials. We'll use the Farringdon Lane exit and get to the cars by the safe house."

Ridge's goons started rushing around the room.

"And who should deal with him?" a guy asked, kicking Elijah's arm.

"You fucking do it," Ridge snapped, hurrying to a safe in the wall by the window.

Elijah felt disorientated, and his ears were ringing, but all of these people were demons, and they were exactly what he needed to not only cure his current predicament but to also speed up the recovery of the energy it took for his body to heal.

The moment a man grabbed his arm and rolled him onto his back, Elijah snatched his wrist before he could stab his knife into his throat. Then, the demon yanked him closer and sunk his fangs into the startled man's throat.

"He's fucking awake!" someone yelled.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Ridge shrieked.

Elijah gulped down as much of the man's blood as he could, and when several demons came at him with their claws bared, he snarled in frustration and threw the man in his grip at them. But before he could climb to his feet, two demons who dodged their dead packmate grabbed his arms and pinned him against the back wall. Elijah tried to kick one of them off, but on Ridge's order, two more demons raced over and grabbed his legs.

"Yeah, yeah. I've dealt with you people before," Ridge said with a victorious grin on his face, approaching Elijah. "You think you're so tough coming in here like some one-man army." He stopped in front of him and looked him up and down. "You're gonna end up in the same place as the last guy they sent after me."

Elijah had no idea what he was talking about. He snarled in response, watching as Ridge pulled a strange black dagger from his pocket.

"Do you know what this is?" Ridge asked, holding the knife in front of Elijah's face. "Of course you do. You Venaticus assholes seem more desperate to get this back than that stupid little hybrid's blood."

His pack crowded behind him and laughed amusedly.

Ridge leaned closer to Elijah's face. "This is gonna hurt—"

A blinding flash of red light suddenly clashed with several demons behind Ridge. Horrified screams filled the room, and when Ridge turned to face the crimson fire that had engulfed half his pack, Elijah seized his chance.

Elijah pulled his right arm free and tore out the throat of the man who'd been holding it. Then, he snatched the man holding his left arm by his throat and threw him into the burning crowd. The two men at his feet tried to grab him, but he kicked one across the floor and threw the other at Ridge, who tried to reach him with his knife.

That was when Elijah saw Zoe outside the window. Evidently there must be a balcony, which was the perfect way for him to get Ridge out of the casino without having to deal with security.

He grabbed the back of Ridge's shirt before the guy could flee and snatched his wrist, keeping him from swinging his knife at him. Elijah moved past the burning demons, but they should have been reduced to nothing by now. Why were they still writhing and screaming?

As he dragged Ridge—who was yelling and flailing around in an attempt to break free from him—towards the window, Elijah glanced over his shoulder at Zoe. "What the fuck are you waiting for?! Kill them!"

"Get the fuck off me you Venaticus piece of shit!" Ridge screamed.

Zoe stood there with a horrified look on her face.

Elijah snarled irritably and snapped Ridge's wrist, making him drop the knife. Then, he slammed the man's head against the wall, knocking him out before he could say another word. He let the man's body hit the floor and grabbed a colt from the poker table. The demon shot each of Ridge's wailing, burning packmates, and once they were all dead, he dropped the gun, threw Ridge over his shoulder, and took the knife, too.

The girl didn't say a word when he climbed out of the window onto the balcony. She followed in silence down the stairs and along the street, and only when they went into an alley did Elijah feel calm enough to ask her what the fuck she was doing without lunging at her.

He turned to face her. "What the fuck was that?!" he snapped, dropping Ridge on the muddy ground.

"What was what? I was helping you," she insisted.

"Any one of those guys could have got up and grabbed a gun! Why the hell would you just leave them burning?!"

"Because I'm not used to these kinds of situations," she mumbled, looking away from him.

He dragged his free hand over his face and realized there was blood on his chin from where he'd fed on one of Ridge's demons. With a frustrated huff, he wiped the blood from his chin and looked down at Ridge. He didn't want to scare this girl off; she knew things—more than she was letting on—and he wanted to know just how much she was keeping from him. But he had to remember that she was just some journalist and not a fighter. It seemed like manipulating hellfire was the only thing she could do.

The demon sighed and tried to calm down. He did feel a lot better now that he'd had blood, and the fact that his key to finding Ronan was laying in the mud helped. All he had to do was drop Ridge off, get paid, and go back to Quinn. But there was something else he was curious about: the knife.

He turned to face Zoe again. "Do you know what this is?" he asked, holding the black blade out to her.

"Um..." she mumbled, examining it. "I...can't be sure," she said, glancing up at him, "but it looks like an obcasus."

Elijah frowned. "A what?"

"Well...it's not an original one, it's more like a cheap replica." She looked up at him. "An obcasus is an ancient blade that can destroy a Numen.... Maybe this is why he calls himself God Slayer."

His frown thickened. "You didn't finish answering my question."

"Oh, right. Sorry. So, Ridge must have somehow gotten hold of one of the original blades or learned how they work and made that from it," she said, nodding at the knife in Elijah's hand. "I heard that the Venaticus were looking into a string of strange demon deaths. All of them were killed by a single stab wound, which is really weird since demons can get stabbed a million times and heal pretty fast."

Elijah glanced at the knife. "This thing kills demons instantly?"

She nodded and said, "I think so. Maybe...maybe we should turn that in with him. The Venaticus will probably pay for it."

"How do you know so much?" he questioned skeptically, tucking the knife into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. "And don't tell me you know it all because of some guy from the Venaticus. You knew more about Ridge than the bounty paper listed; you know about the Nosferatu and El'Vorian, and now you know about insta-kill demon knives? Who are you—really?"

Zoe pouted. "Who are you, huh? You're out here killing all these people like it's nothing, chasing down cars and getting shot by snipers. You're drinking blood and only have one wing. So, you tell me, Elijah," she snapped defensively.

He snarled at her and grabbed Ridge's arm. But he didn't start dragging the man. He knew that he wasn't going to get anything out of her if he didn't give her something. So, he glared down at her. "You know I'm looking for someone. I spent thirteen years in a Lyca Corp. lab; I don't remember half the shit they did to me, but I vividly recall them removing my right wing. That's why I only have one. I drink blood because I'm part sangdevoro, and I kill people because they deserve to die. Happy?"

The girl's stubborn pout was quickly replaced by a despondent stare. "No, I'm not happy. That's very sad," she said, following him as he dragged Ridge towards the end of the alley.

"I don't need sympathy," he grumbled, throwing Ridge over his shoulder when he stepped onto the deserted street. "Now tell me how you know so much about the Venaticus and Ridge and the knife."

She sighed quietly. "Well...I actually have a cousin that works at the Venaticus. He moves around a lot and works on a bunch of different cases, but sometimes he's in Dawnward, and I see him researching stuff or hear him on the phone. One of his cases was Ridge and the hybrid blood. A few years ago, there was this demon-wolf walker hybrid who was helping the Venaticus find a Lyca Corp. lab in Ascela. I think the Venaticus thought Ridge was involved in the illegal experiments in some way. That's all I remember, though. I thought I could find out where the lab was so that I could get some solid evidence, but there wasn't anything on my cousin's laptop about it," she explained.

Could Ridge be involved? Elijah didn't know him, nor did he remember seeing his face when he was in the lab. But if the Venaticus suspected he was working with Lyca Corp., then there was a chance that he was.

"As for the knife," Zoe continued, following him across the road towards another alley, "that was another thing I overheard my cousin talking about. My dads also warned me about it because it's dangerous."

"Do your dads work for the Venaticus?" Elijah questioned, carrying Ridge into the alley behind a bakery. "You said they were working abroad and you were keeping your research a secret."

"They can work abroad and still work for the Venaticus," she answered.

He stopped walking and put Ridge down beside a crate. "Why are you keeping your research a secret?"

"From my dads?"

Elijah nodded.

A frustrated look appeared on her face as she sighed and shrugged. "Because my dads and my siblings and even my cousin are all extremely accomplished and I suck in comparison, so I thought I could impress my parents by uncovering this whole big conspiracy theory, but I don't want to tell them because I know they'll just tell me it's unsafe and to come home," she explained, crossing her arms. "I just...wanna find my thing, you know? I want to know what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel like I could at least be helpful...if I could just unravel all of this."

The demon looked down at Ridge. He understood her motives; after all, Haru wasn't the only thing he was looking for. Like Zoe, he had no idea what his purpose was. He didn't know who he was...nor did he really understand what he was. All he did know was that he was part sangdevoro, a rare species of demon that needed blood to survive, and that he could create and manipulate purification fire.

He didn't want to start stressing himself out with all his uncertainty, though. His goal was to find Haru, and that was what he needed to focus on.

Elijah crouched and smacked Ridge's face. "We'll see if he has anything useful to say before we hand him in."

Zoe nodded and nervously said, "Okay. How?"

"Maybe you should take notes," Elijah said with a smirk, glancing at her as Ridge started coming around. "If you want to uncover your little mystery, you're going to need to learn to do things my way." He slapped Ridge's face again. "Wake the fuck up."

The man flinched, and when he opened his eyes and saw Elijah, he squealed in panic and tried to get up. But the demon gripped his throat and glared into his terrified eyes.

"Answer my questions and you might just make it out of here in one piece," Elijah growled.

"I-I don't know shit, man. I just—"

Elijah tightened his grip. "How are you involved with Lyca Corp. and the lab out in Ascela?"

Ridge gulped. "I-I ain't involved, man."

He snarled impatiently.

"L-look!" Ridge insisted, trembling. "I got this hybrid blood, okay? At first, I was gonna use it to make an army. But when I gave the blood to a demon, the guy fucking turned into black goop. I tried it on a wolf walker, but the same thing happened, so—"

"You worked out you couldn't create hybrids," Elijah interjected.

He nodded. "So, if I couldn't create an army to protect me from the Nosferatu and Venaticus and whatever the fuck else, then I'd need money to hide. Lyca Corp. were gonna give me thousands, but when it came to the meet, they tried to rip me off!" he shouted angrily, gritting his teeth. "Slimy bastards brought over a hundred troops. I got away, though."

"What did Lyca Corp. want it for?" Elijah questioned.

"I don't know. They never told me."

Elijah snarled impatiently and tightened his grasp.

"I-I swear!" Ridge choked. "I-I've been trying to find my own scientist ever since—y-you know, to help me make an army. But I ain't found no one. The blood's still in my vault if that's what you're after!"

The demon looked at Zoe. "Will they pay for the blood, too?"

She nodded. "Uh...yeah, I think so."

"What?" Ridge scoffed. "You're gonna give it to the Venaticus? Are you fucking insane?! That shit's one of the most powerful things someone could have right now! I-I mean, have you seen what's happened in Ascela?"

Elijah frowned at him. "What's happening in Ascela?"

"Some fucked up shit. Mutated wolf walkers. Some people think Lyca Corp. is responsible," Ridge answered.

"Yeah..." Zoe drawled. "I remember my dads saying something about that. Something about...a thing escaping one of the labs and spreading a disease."

The demon's frown thickened. What the hell was going on? Could any of this be connected to Haru's transfer? It was all too much to think about; he felt like his skull was about to explode, and he needed time to sit somewhere and think. But now wasn't that time.

He looked at Zoe. "Anything you want to ask him before I send him back to sleep?"

She shook her head.

Elijah slammed his fist into Ridge's face before he could speak. Then, he picked the man up and held him over his shoulder. "Let's go."

"What about the blood?" she asked, walking beside him.

"We'll tell them where to find it." He didn't want to risk going back to the casino. "Come on. I want to get this done before morning."

"Okay," she murmured with a queasy look on her face.

Elijah began leading the way to the bounty office once more. He had a lot to think about; everything he learned since finding Zoe might be connected to Haru in some way and he was determined to find out how. What Ridge told him wasn't enough, though, and he hoped that once he found Ronan—the man who handled Lyca Corp.'s transfers—everything would start falling into place.

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

♛ What was your favourite part? ♛

✟ What do you think of Zoe's reason for trying to unravel the Lyca Corp. conspiracy? ✟

✙ Do you think everything they've learned is connected to Haru's transfer? ✙

❖ Got any questions? ❖

◈ Let me know! ◈