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𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 : 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 

𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐃

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I spat blood out into the grass as I wheezed, unable to breathe through my clogged nose. It felt like it was broken, oh god, it was definitely broken.

I sat up on my elbows, trying to ease the air through my lungs and out my mouth. I didn't think the man was going to hit me that hard, but he wasn't just here because of the money promised to him.

He was here for revenge. Revenge for a fallen comrade.

Michael West wore a monochrome navy blue suit over a turtleneck sweater of the same color. His shoes were black and looked new, expensive even. He's got good taste, I thought to myself and bit back a sickly sweet grin that was surely bloodied. His dark hair looked freshly dyed and was slicked back, save for the two strands that had fallen near his face, free from the thick coating of gel by the rain and the force in which he had hit me.

"Why are you smiling?" he sneered and I looked up at him through the haze of black dots and misty rain. I hadn't even realized I had actually started to smile until he pointed it out, the pain registering in my face from the expression.

Smile because you're going to die. Smile because you won't make it out of here alive.

"Just-just your outfit," I said, licking my lips and wincing at the split in my bottom lip. "Very fashionable."

"You little bitch," he hissed, wrenching me to my knees with a handful of my hair. "You're lucky I've allowed you to live this long."

I breathed heavily through clenched teeth as he forced me to look at him, his fingers wound tight in the locks of my hair. "How thoughtful of you." Keep calm, just breathe, and don't say anything to provoke him. You're angry and hurt, don't lash out like you want to. I listened to the thoughts in my head as he smiled.

He reached out with his free hand, brushing my cheek with the back of his hand softly. "They said you were pretty, but not this pretty." He ran his thumb under one of my eyes and I held back a grimace, his touch feeling like dread. "It's a shame that I have to carve up this pretty face."

He flicked his wrist and the small pocket knife I had noticed before sprang free, the blade clicking loudly into place. I scrunched my mouth up as I pulled back as far as I could without the painful strain in my scalp. My jacket was somewhere behind me and I just needed to reach it before West struck.

Come on, come on, think!

My hands were free and my legs weren't bound, I was more in control than he'd realized. I jutted my hand out and at his throat, hitting him hard like I had seen in a movie not long ago. It was enough to have him loosen his hold and for his face to go red as he coughed and choked.

I moved while I could, flinging myself backwards and to my jacket. I pulled open the pocket and pulled Spiorad free as West pawed the ground for his knife. I stood on weak legs, my knees covered in mud and gravel, my hands shaking only slightly. My head ached and my cheek and lip were already swelling, feeling tight as I breathed out slowly.

"Tell me what type of demon you are!" I shouted, surprised to find my voice strong and no longer the wobbly, weak tone. I felt the slow return of a trickle of blood from my bottom lip and I cursed to myself, wiping at it with my free hand. The side of my hand smeared with my blood, red and dark and running. "I know what Jeb Reed was, he told me all about it before I killed him."

West laughed maniacally, shaking his head as he rubbed his neck. "They said you were pathetic, weak–" He wheezed, rising to one knee. "–that you were just some high school, teenage, bitch."

"Don't judge a book by it's cover, asshole."

He laughed again and got to both feet, staggering to the right before pushing his suit jacket back as he moved his arms. It looked as if he was getting loose, like he was warming up before he would charge.

"Jeb Reed put up a fight," I told him, taking a step back to gain more distance between us. "But he liked to talk, are you the same?"

"Fuck you," he spat and charged.

I dove to the side before he could tackle me and I rolled, getting up on one knee as I smiled. I didn't know I had that type of speed, or momentum, but I knew the blade in my hands was giving it to me. It was what was driving me forward, moving me, keeping me alive for as long as it could.

"Tell me what type of demon you are," I said again as he turned to face me, his eyes wild and wide. He looked like a crazed animal, desperate to kill. "Reed said he was a floater, so what does that make you? Hmm?"

He lunged, but it was slower, not as calculated as I jumped back and he landed in front of me. He clawed at the ground, seething at the mouth as he drove his knife at my legs as I scrambled away. He stabbed and stabbed, hitting dirt and rock as I turned on my butt, scrambling to my feet as I pushed off the ground with my hands.

I needed to keep the distance between us far, to keep him away as long as I could. I needed information, I needed to know more before I used Spiorad. "Come any closer and I'll kill you-" I held the knife out as he paused, looking at the intricate markings on the blade. "-I killed Reed with this, don't think I won't use it on you too!"

"Demon killer," he smiled, easing up to his feet slowly. He moved his head from side to side and I heard his neck crack, he was gearing up to strike again. "The great missing blade."

"So, you're familiar with her?" I cooed, spinning the knife comfortable in my hands.

"She's taken many lives."

"Afraid?"

"Hardly."

"You should be," I snarled and stepped forward, slashing. I caught nothing but air as he jumped back, flipping his knife to his other hand and thrusting it out and up, catching my forearm.

I winced, stepping back as I gripped the short cut, feeling blood press against my palm. When I peeled my hand back, there was a perfect line across the center of my palm like a lifeline, strong and unjaded.

"Crow might not be happy that you've spilled so much of my 'precious' blood already," I snapped, feeling the wind pick up as it flung misty rain towards our faces and sides. The trees groaned, the leaves rustling and shuffling together as the wind grew and built from the west. "What do you plan to do with it? Drink it? Pour it over something?"

"Everything, anything," he answered with a smile. "There's power in those veins and we intend to use every last drop."

I wrung my hand over the bleeding cut, feeling it begin to itch as some wounds tend to do. I needed a game plan, something to get me out of here and fast. If I could make it back into the church where there were witnesses, I was sure he wouldn't try anything. Would anyone even come looking for me? Or had the funeral service already started?

"Seems like you're the one who should be afraid," he grinned and lunged, again and again and again.

It was hard to move in my heels and before I knew it, my back was against the ground and I was gasping for air. Spiorad had dropped somewhere off to my right and I pawed the ground for it as I tried to use my other arm the best I could to keep him off of me. His knife was nearing my face and I ignored how close my fingers were from gripping my knife as I swung with my fist to hopefully knock him off his balance enough to get his knife farther away from me.

"What happens if you guys can't kill me in the time Crow wants?" I grunted, struggling to hold back his arm as he used both hands to inch the knife closer and closer. My strike to the side of his head and shoulder had done nothing but urge him to use even more strength against me. "What happens to-" I clenched my teeth together, the tip of the knife so close to my cheek that if I even breathed wrong, it would pierce my skin. "-to your payday, huh?"

"We'll be punished," he hissed back, pressing one knee into my side and I ignored the burn in my lungs and gut as I tried to keep breathing through my nose as the knife finally touched down. "And then we'll try again."

"And if you're all dead before then?" I asked, turning my head fast as I dropped his hands. The knife hit the dirt right next to my ear and I could feel blood run where the knife had cut down my face on the way down. I grabbed Spiorad with my right hand now that I had some momentum. He had rocked forward, not expecting to surge forward so hard and fast and I brought my knees up with enough impact to strike him in the groin and it sent him toppling off me in howls.

I got to my feet and far enough away from him that I could be safe. I raised my free hand and pointed to him, feeling the rush of blood drip down my cheek from the crooked cut. "Ignis atque flammarum venire ad me. Ardet, ardet, ardebit!" I shouted over his groaning and the pouring rain.

(For a fire is to come to me, like a mighty flame. It burns, burns, burns!)

The words flew straight out of my mouth like they had been put there by some other worldly thing. The flames started small on the edges of his suit jacket before erupting, bigger and bright as I hissed out, "Altius, citius, fortius!"

(Higher, faster, stronger!)

I could feel the warmth of them as I stalked towards him, my blade hanging in my hand by my side. I would not kill him until I had every last ounce of information pulled from his brain and into my own.

He was screaming, patting at his clothes as the flames grew and grew. "Stop it! Make them stop!"

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll stop them!" I screamed as a rush of wind blew past us and moved my hair from my shoulders but the flames were untouched. It was like there was not a drop of rain around him, nothing to put out the blaze.

"I'll tell you-I'll tell you anything!" he wailed as the flames touched his neck and cheeks and I could see the skin growing hot and beginning to melt.

I held up my hand and whispered, "Prohibere."

(Stop.)

The flames went out at the sound of the word and he was gasping for air and holding his wounded face. His clothing was charred and black, some parts hanging on by thin threads. I could see his marred cheeks weren't just wet from the rain but by tears as black blood dripped off his chin and grew darker against the torn and messy flesh of his neck.

"What-" He gulped, looking up at me, shaking like a scared dog. "-what do you want to know?"

"What type of demon are you?"

He brushed a burnt strand of hair free from his eyes as he sat up on his knees. "I'm-I'm a reincarnate."

I crossed my arms, making sure he could still see Spiorad in my hand. I needed him to stay afraid, to be terrified of what I could do, he needed to be complacent. "And that is?"

"Born into the body," he breathed, shuddering as I watched his fingers touch the burns. I could see that they were healing, just around the edges and I knew I didn't have long until he was at full strength again. "An inborn. They're practically-the same things. Just-" he breathed deeply through his nose and let it out through his mouth. "-just means we were born into our bodies."

"So that host...is yours?"

He nodded. "Means that the baby, before being born, died and before doctors or the mother could tell the difference, we were sent into them. We can grow, age, and live but after a certain amount of time, we stop aging but we just can't leave our hosts."

"Not ever?" I asked, wondering if Crow was one of these inborns. Or was he one of the more dangerous floaters?

He nodded again, licking his chapped lips with a smile. It seemed like he was slowly getting his strength back just like I feared. "You know, you're nothing like the boss says. Not one bit."

"And what does he say?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. What did Crow really think about me? "Let me guess, I'm...weak? Pathetic? Just some measly high schooler?"

"Something along those lines, yes," he chuckled and got to one foot. "He mostly said that we shouldn't underestimate you but it seems that Reed must've done just that. Behind this brave girl persona there's a weak, little girl inside you."

"Funny, Reed said something along those lines too," I spun Spiorad in my hand and grinned. I could see movement in the trees behind him and I pressed my lips together to keep my grin from growing. I recognized the dark mass of the body, moving as if it couldn't be seen. He wasn't as small and hidden as he thought he was but I was glad West hadn't spotted him quite yet. End it hard and fast, before he strikes and you can't recover.

"When did you get so brave, huh? What made you strong?"

I shrugged and smiled, "Must've been when I figured out my dazzling personality can keep you distracted enough for me to do this!"

Ace took hold of West's arms and pulled them back and behind him to keep him from reaching out at me with his knife. I raised Spiorad high above my head before bringing it down and hard into West's thigh.

He let out a gut wrenching howl before the burning light erupted out of him. Hot and blinding and full of fury. It blasted out from all edges, it's warmth spreading across my cheeks and the world flashed white beyond my closed eyes.

And when my eyes opened and I saw what had been done, there was nothing left but a small pile of ash already soaking up the rain and earth. Two down. Seven left to go.

Ace's hands dropped to his side and he looked up at me, smiling. I had noticed him move against the trees, he must've come outside looking for me and just in time too. He was breathing heavily and his eyes never left mine even as the rain pounded against our faces.

"So, that's how that knife works?" he laughed as I held it up and smiled. "Damn, remind me to try and get one of those things."

I backed up and bent down to grab my purse and jacket. I slipped my jacket over my muddied arms and dress, hoping it hid most of the damage I had endured. I sure knew my face showed enough as it was. "Did the service already start?" I asked, slipping Spiorad back into its place in the jacket.

He nodded, kicking his foot at the pile of wet ash. "Started maybe ten minutes ago?"

"Pandora still inside?"

He nodded, sighing, "I can try and get her to leave, since she's our ride and all."

I nodded too, rubbing my face and wincing. My fingers came off a bright red and I sighed, "Yeah, I think that'd be the best thing to do. I can't go back there looking like this."

He patted me on the shoulder with a small smile and a shake of his head. "I'll be back in five, go wait by the car, okay?" Before I could walk off, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a soft hug, whispering in my ear, "Thank god you're okay."

I wrapped my arms around him, nuzzling my face into his neck and hoping I didn't leave any blood or mud rubbed off on him. "You showed up just in time."

"Maybe when we're in the car, you can tell me why he smelled like a campfire?" I laughed, nodding as I pulled back and away from him. He reached out, brushing his fingers over the long cut across my cheek and he sighed, "I hate seeing you hurt, I hate seeing what they're doing to you."

"It's okay," I breathed, shrugging but he kept his brows furrowed in tight anger. "I promise, it's all happening for a reason, isn't it?"

He forced a nod and sighed again, "Next time you go off to fight one of these assholes, you bring me with you, okay?"

"Duh."

He jogged off towards the side door of the church as I trudged slowly back onto the gravel path towards the sidewalk. My feet were aching just as much as both my face and arm. I needed a good, long shower. I was tempted to sneak into my mom's room to use her bathtub but the idea of going into that room made me feel woozy, and I don't think it was the slight concussion making me feel that way.

I reached Pandora's little car and leaned my back against it, watching the church as I waited. The cold rain felt good on my face, although it did sting when it would hit and run into the thin cut and over my busted lip. My nose felt hot and stuffy, and my lips were swollen and crusted with dried blood. My face burned and the dull ache had spread from my busted cheek to the entirety of my face. It would be a bliss too sweet to be able to toss back four Advils and call it a night but as Ace ran out the back door of the church and along the sidewalk, I saw that our night was just beginning.

"Where is she?" I asked as he crossed the street and met me at her car. He was breathing heavily, brows pulled together tightly as he looked around us and shrugged.

"She was there when I left to find you but I went in to go snag her but she was gone," he huffed, hands on his hips. He ran one hand through his air, puffing out a breath of air as he looked around the cars in the parking lot. "It's not like she could've gone far, she left her car."

"Did you check the bathroom?"

He nodded. "Knocked and when I heard nothing, I went in and there wasn't anyone in there." He motioned back to the church with a jerk of his thumb as he added, "John said she got a text and had to step out to call someone?"

I frowned, grabbing my purse and pulling my phone out. I checked through my notifications and stopped, "She didn't text me, did she text you?"

He shook his head. "It's not like she could've disappeared, she was there like five minutes ago and now she's not."

My frown deepened as I looked past him and at the looming church. The dark clouds overhead made it look ghostly, like there was some other world laying beyond those big doors. If Pandora hadn't left, that meant she still had to be somewhere inside the church.

"We don't have her keys so we can't go anywhere," I whispered, not understanding why I was whispering to begin with but I had a tingling of fear encasing my lungs. "I'm going to go inside, have a look around and see if I can find her."

"You think you can find her and I can't?"

I rolled my eyes, slipping my phone back into my purse. "No, it's not that, I just think we need to check downstairs."

"The morgue?" he asked, jogging to keep up with me as we went back across the street. We kept close to the church to avoid as much of the rainfall as we could as I nodded.

"Crow's office is there, maybe there's something inside we can find to make sense of all of this," I explained, sighing as I brushed back droplets of rain dripping down into my eyebrows. "It just...none of it makes sense, are you sure you just didn't see her in there?"

"She wasn't where I left her," he sighed back. "For godsake, we sat next to each other."

"Okay, okay," I groaned, walking up the stone steps and opening the back door slowly to keep quiet. I could hear Macabre speaking in the church and I grimaced, I hadn't known he was working today. "This way," I whispered and led him to the door that would lead us straight into the belly of the beast.

~

It was cold in the morgue.

I had let him wait at the top of the stairs before determining if Crow was in his office and when I didn't see a light underneath the door, I gave the boy a thumbs up and he turned the lights on. He followed me to the office door and I tried the knob, frowning.

"It's locked," I told him, jostling the door a second time for good measure. "You know how to pick a lock?"

He grinned and motioned for me to get out of the way as he dug around in his pocket. While he worked on the lock, I took a good look around the place. It was different in the light, a lot more open than I had intended.

There was a small table with three chairs towards the opposite wall of the freezer that held the bodies. There were two metal tables in the corner, pressed against the wall and out of the way. I was thankful that no one else had been down here when we had arrived, I wasn't sure if I was mentally ready to see an autopsy or any dead body.

It was one of the reasons I loved Spiorad so much. It didn't leave a mess, there was never a dead body. I never had to see one or deal with one, the blade dealt with it all on its own. I felt it's usual pull in my pocket, the blade feeling warm against me and the fabric holding it back. I needed to get back into my mother's journals, read more about what this knife was and who it belonged to before me.

I heard the door open behind me and I turned, Ace grinning as he stood and held out his hands as he said, "After you, my lady."

I rolled my eyes at him with a faint smile but walked in first, flipping the light switch on. The office was disappointingly normal.

Big dark oak desk, with a bajillion papers stacked and spread across its surface. There was a computer that looked a million years old and even one or two old photographs on the back table pressed against the wall. There were two small leather arm chairs in front of the desk for guests, the leather a worn, aging red. There was a large black and white photograph of the church on the wall the desk sat in front of and I sighed.

I thought Crow would put more taste into his office than this.

I rounded the desk, shifting through the papers and reading off wha information I could find, groaning out, "It looks like these are just bills and old transactions with the hospital for autopsies and funeral services."

Ace threw open one of the drawers and rifled through more papers. "There has to be something in here about Panda, she wouldn't have just run off like that and not tell us."

I dug around in my purse and brought my phone out. "I'm going to call her, but keep looking."

I stepped past him and back out into the morgue, listening and waiting to the ring. I tapped my foot impatiently, hoping and praying she'd just answer and tell us she went into the kitchen or Ace just didn't see her. Pandora couldn't be missing, it'd be so unlike her to get up and not tell anyone anything, to just leave and not say anything to me.

I stopped for a moment, lowering my phone as it rang for a third time and I looked around. There was a ringing, a buzzing to be exact, coming from the metal freezer. I crossed the room slowly, the buzzing growing louder as I got closer and closer to drawers. I paused, my phone dropped from my ear as I rested my arm by my side.

"Hey, Ace?" I called out, feeling a wave of anxiety rush up my throat, clenching and squeezing.

"What?" he yelled back from the office.

"You-you-" I felt like I couldn't breathe. Oh god, oh god, what if she's in there? What if she's fucking dead? "-her phone-it's-it's-"

"Blaire? What's wrong?" there was worry in his voice and I heard him over the pounding in my ears come up behind me. "Why is there buzzing coming from in there?"

I couldn't even open my mouth to respond, paralyzed with this terrifying idea that if I were to open up and pull out one of these drawers, I would see her lifeless eyes staring back up at me.

"Blaire, tell me it's not coming from-" He couldn't finish his sentence as my phone spoke out in a distant voice, "Hi, this is Pandora, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Thanks!"

Pandora. Pandora. Pandora.

"Open it," I finally breathed, turning my phone off. "Ace, open the drawer right now."

"Blaire–"

"Do it."

He sighed but finally nodded, stepping past me and grabbing the large metal handle and twisting, unlocking it. He opened the door, pushing it back as he grabbed hold of the table and pulled. The metal screeched and churned as he pulled it all the way out and between us.

The body on the table was in a black body bag, zipped shut. It didn't seem like it was too big or even too small, it looked normal. It looked Pandora sized and it made me want to be sick. Ace reached out in front of him, grabbing something off the table and holding it up for me to see and I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly before doing it two more times. When I opened my eyes, I felt the warmth of tears against my lashes as he held onto Pandora's car keys and phone.

I raised a shaking hand and grabbed hold of the zipper, Ace sucking in a deep breath and holding it as I pulled it down far enough to expose whatever face that would be looking back at us. I let out the breath I had been holding as I pulled open one of the flaps of the body bag and Ace did the other.

"It's not her," he breathed out, slumping forward, careful not to rest against the body.

I let out a small gasp as the tears in my eyes fell down quickly and I brushed them away as I looked up at him and away from the man who stared up at us with lifeless, gray eyes. "But where is she, then? Where is she?"

Ace looked at me and his eyes told me what he was trying to say. He was torn, confused, and angry because just like me, he didn't have a clue.

I ran both hands through my hair, pressing my back against the rows of drawers, sinking down to the ground. I rested there in my squat, trying to level my breathing as I tried to stop my brain from running in dangerous circles.

She had been right here, someone had taken her things and put them in that freezer for us to find. For me to find. This was all part of someone's big plan and I had this horrible, itching, sickening feeling in my gut that I must've already known whose it was.

eeeeee here comes the insane amount of updates i'll hopefully have for you guys soon!! i'm writing this a lot faster than I had thought i'd b able to do so I'll hopefully have another chapter out later this week :))

definitely still haven't come up with an editing schedule, mostly because my updates r so insane

hope u guys enjoyed this one and the action and drama and stress and we'll just have to wait for the next chapter to see what happened to pandora ;)

pls pls pls comment and vote and whatnot hehe

xxxx day