Later that evening, after an excruciating meeting at the town hall with countless underhanded comments about how nice it must be that his vital position still gives him so much free time, followed by a short nap, Lucius headed over to the BBT manor.

This time he didn't sneak around the building however, but rather made his way straight towards the main entrance. He had no intention to hide. Instead he lifted his chin and walked up to the large door with all the confidence he had.

He grabbed the door knocker resembling a plain circle surrounded by four intricately detailed wings. It seemed irrelevant, but Lucius had kind of expected it to resemble the BBT emblem.

Then again, a broken fang would not make a very good knocker.

He waited patiently after knocking on the door. With that big of a building he'd be lucky if a servant was nearby. Chances were he'd have to knock again, or pick the lock of course, but he'd learned from experience that might not go over well.

"Evening, worm," a voice suddenly said behind him and Lucius didn't get the chance to turn around before a hand grabbed around his throat.

"Mr. Kilgrave." Lucius tried to smile as Derek turned him around, refusing to let go of his throat. "What a pleasure."

"Pleasure's all mine," Derek replied dutifully, though Lucius was certain he genuinely meant it.

He tried to stay calm though. Attacking Derek would only hurt his goals, and since they'd spared him because of Anthony, why would they kill him now?

"Listen, I... I need to talk to Damien," he managed to whisper as his vision grew blurry, and doubt in his judgement of the situation made itself known.

"Was he unclear last time when he wanted you gone?" Derek's grip remained firm at first, but just as Lucius had to consider either fighting back or accepting unconsciousness, he let go.

"I—" Lucius took deep breaths, knees buckling as he tried to regain his composure. "I want you to reconsider... Letting me join."

Derek raised his eyebrows.

"No."

Then he turned to head inside the house, but Lucius grabbed his arm.

"At least hear me out. Or, let me speak to Damien. I know—"

"Listen, it's getting late." Derek turned his head skywards. "I have things to do and no time to torture people, so if you're gonna keep this up I'll have to kill you on the spot, and then we'll both be disappointed."

"You—" Lucius hesitated, considering the threat. "You really shouldn't turn away someone who can incapacitate a garm."

This caused Derek to pause, slowly looking back over his shoulder.

"... A garm?"

"I know you know about them," Lucius insisted. "You have to. You've been investigating werewolves or something, haven't you? That's why it's noted on that map. And you know about Ethan, so it's not like you haven't dealt with supernatural people before."

"Why the Waste would I not know about them?" Derek turned around completely, a condescending eyebrow raised to suggest Lucius was a very dumb man. "And why would you expect me to feel threatened about you knowing?"

Lucius blinked.

"Well, I... Figure it's not something you want people to know about?" The uncertainty in his voice was not intended, but Derek's indifferent eyes made him falter.

To make matters worse, Derek then chuckled, his patronising look turning into one of pity.

"Anthony's really been trying to keep you out of it all, huh?"

Heat rose in Lucius' cheeks.

"... How so?"

"You just seem to know less than I thought." Derek shrugged. "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Anthony's been pushing people away for a long time, so why would someone like you be the exception?"

It struck a nerve in Lucius, and he bit his lip to remain calm. He was not in the mood to stand there and be insulted all night. He was there for progress.

And immortality.

"I know plenty," he therefore said. "How else would I know enough to take down a fucking garm? And I know about Ethan, and—"

He paused. Perhaps they didn't know about Richard. Whether it would make a difference or not was unclear, but there was little reason to yell it out like that.

So he drew a breath.

"And I know about Anthony. And Damien."

Derek cocked an eyebrow again, crooked grin returning for another haughty grimace.

"Do you, now?"

"So with all this I think it would be horrendously stupid of you to turn me down." Lucius nodded, only realising later he was dropping the politeness. "I was resourceful even before, but if you needed proof that I can handle myself, then—"

"Fine." Derek rolled his eyes and a resigned smile forced itself onto his lips. "I'll take you to Damien. Be a shame to kill you before you tell us about this supposed garm anyway."

"Very kind of you," Lucius muttered under his breath as Derek turned to unlock the door.

"It's alright, Hauke. I'm letting him in," Derek announced as the silent man who'd captured Lucius the other day appeared in the entrance hall. "He wants another chance, and he's with Anthony so it would be sooner or later I guess?"

The silent man's frown only deepened, and if Lucius wasn't mistaken he almost looked pained. What the Waste was the matter with the BBT crowd?

"Damien," Derek continued in a singsong voice as he opened the door to the office Lucius had previously broken into and found the map. "Anthony's worm is back to see you."

Lord Damien Hargreaves was sitting in an armchair by the large window, looking up from a book as the two entered.

His eyes immediately pierced through Lucius' forsaken soul.

"And you just took the liberty of letting him in?" Damien's voice was definitely annoyed, but there was a certain exasperation to it suggesting it was just the kind of thing Derek would do to mess with him. "What does he want now?"

"I want you to reconsider letting me join the BBT," Lucius answered, disgruntled from being ignored and only spoken about in third person.

Damien gave him a brief, obviously forced smile before returning to his book.

"No."

Ugh, again.

"I would like to point out some further abilities of mine," Lucius insisted, looking at Derek for assistance but not sure why he expected the man to oblige. "See, Anthony's enlightened me on the subject of your... Fondness of art..."

Damien kept reading, but Lucius noticed an ever so slight twitch in his eye, and he continued.

"And I believe such information could come in handy when working for—"

"Why would information like that come in handy?" Damien's glare was withering as he turned his attention away from the book again. "It's not something you're supposed to casually shout on the streets, not that it seems like you know when to shut up anyway."

Derek looked immensely pleased by this scolding, and Lucius drew a silent breath before stepping forward.

"It would be easier for me to understand your way of thinking. Granted, you see things from another perspective because of your long life, and your plans for the future will look accordingly." He gestured around the office. "I can't imagine people such as you and Anthony are content with just any old trading company. Surely you have a greater plan than keeping it restricted to just a few towns? Least of all South Kerilia."

Damien raised his eyebrows, giving Derek a look of confusion and the latter looked rather puzzled as well.

"You're... Saying you want to take part in expanding our business?" Damien turned his gaze back in Lucius' direction. "You're referring to what you said the other day about trade and knowledge in the slum areas."

"Among other things." Lucius nodded with as charming of a smile as he could muster. "I forgive you for underestimating me, but I really am proficient in physical combat as well."

"Says he's run into a garm, and supposedly knocked it out," Derek finally relayed, to Lucius' appreciation and further pleasure as Damien's expression finally shifted into one of interest.

"A garm? Here in South Kerilia?"

"Give me a chance," Lucius pressed on, taking his chance to turn the tables in his favour. "I'll tell you about the garm, if you give me a chance to join."

Damien tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he scanned Lucius up and down.

"Alright," he finally relented, a vague smile appearing on his lips. "Derek, you're still heading to Scalefall Street tonight, so bring him along with you."

Derek sent him a tired look.

"... Really?"

"As a trial, of sorts." Damien nodded in Lucius' direction. "See if he's a good fit for our organisation."

He then turned to Lucius entirely.

"And you will tell him about the garm on the way, is that understood?"

"Of course, Lord Hargreaves." Lucius even managed a genuine smile. "I won't let you down."

"I hope not." Damien's smile faded in return.

"So, uh... Will I need anything?" Lucius hurried after Derek as they exited the office. "It all went pretty quickly. Not sure I'm prepared to go just like this."

Derek turned just a little to look back, giving him a light-hearted shrug.

"A gun, perhaps."

"Wha—" Lucius blinked. "Really? Are—Are we collecting debts, or something?"

He hadn't expected to go on a mission like that so soon, but why be surprised? If Damien was sceptical it made sense for him to throw him into the fray immediately.

And it's not like I haven't collected debts before.

The difference was that he'd used to have Damien's position in this case. He was the one ordering his Reapers around, and they did the physical work. Hopefully Derek would serve that purpose this time, but with their conversation in mind he accepted that he would have to punch someone as well.

Or shoot...

"You're free to back out, you know." Derek reached back to pat him on his shoulder. "I work better alone anyway."

"If this is the one chance I'll get, of course I'm going." Lucius shook his head and slowed his pace to avoid the hand, determined to not come off as concerned. "Just lend me a gun, will you? I'm making an educated guess that you own more than one."

Derek chuckled at this.

"Might be able to spare you one."

***

"So in a way I suppose we found those Larkspur fellows you were looking for," Lucius concluded after telling Derek most of the underground tunnel encounter. "Tom doubts they'll go back there though, now that it's been found out, so... My bad?"

Derek grimaced, but did not look too upset about it.

"It's still a confirmation we were on the right track. Same with the garm. Didn't think we'd be dealing with those kinds of werewolves though."

"Well, I figure garms are rare, so it's probably just one." Lucius rubbed his injured arm. "Think that's quite enough too."

Derek scoffed.

"Garms don't come alone. That's kind of their whole thing," he said, and it was enough to send a chill down Lucius' spine. "They can't reach that form without a pack behind them."

"A... Pack?" Lucius knitted his eyebrows, hoping Derek wouldn't notice his discomfort.

"Well, werewolves move in packs, after all." Derek spared him a frown of disappointment, which Lucius found unfair. He knew Richard used to have a family, he just hadn't considered it a pack in that sense. "That's why we need to track it down before something happens."

Lucius pinched his lips together. He wasn't fond of the way Derek seemed to handle things, but judging by his encounter with the garm he also did not want her roaming the streets, especially not with a pack of equally aggressive wolf beasts.

He shuddered, deciding to switch the subject.

"So... How did you join the BBT?" He had no doubt Derek was skilled enough in combat given his aim with knives and apparent ability to rough up Ethan quite good, but where did someone find men like that?

"Well, Damien needed someone more hands-on, and we crossed paths at one time." Derek looked up at the darkening sky in thought. "He found my interest in pain intriguing and gave me the offer to continue my hobbies, except this time with payment."

"Your... Hobby is 'pain'?" Lucius held back a laugh. "What does that even mean? You just go and beat people up as a hobby?"

"Think of it more as research if you'd like." Derek raised his shoulders, untouched by the insinuated mockery. "How much pain can someone endure in different conditions? How long can you keep someone alive without certain organs, and so on."

Lucius felt sick by the mental image, deeply regretting he'd asked, but to his further repulsion Derek continued.

"I've actually created a kind of chest splitter recently to make the whole rib cage issue easier to deal with. See, it's kind of a huge pair of scissors that you place around the person's back." Derek gestured in the air, trying to give Lucius a more exact idea about the procedure, but the latter looked away. "Except the edges are more like a wide pair of hooks that you stick into the abdomen, then you slowly—Well, depending on what kind of mood you're going for, start to press the—"

Wrinkleface, for the love of whatever, help me drown this out.

It was a rare case for Lucius to want the Scourge to talk, but he'd rather take that than hearing what Derek had to say at the moment.

"I actually want to hear this," was the reply however, and Lucius scowled. The Scourge of corruption was not easy to deal with at the best of days, but he also wondered if it had anything to do with his previous talk with Anthony about planned exorcisms.

"Of course, you can't use that one if you want the innards or tissue intact. Trust me, your room will be a mess. On the bright side, I've learned a lot about how to clean various stains from body fluids from different materials," Derek continued, face beaming as if he'd finally found the one person who would listen to him rambling about his interests.

Lucius sucked in a breath.

Now, Wrinkleface!

"All right, here's one," it said, and Lucius frowned, not sure what the 'one' was. "Knock knock."

... For fuck's sake, Wri—

"Now you ask who's there."

Lucius gritted his teeth, but given the options he finally relented.

"... Who's there?"

"This member."

Lucius glanced at Derek with a frown.

... This member who?

"Dismembered you."

A groan wanted to escape Lucius, but he swallowed it down.

Well aren't you a fucking delight.

Then he noticed an odd movement from above, and he looked up at the elevated gangways children used to get around town.

The blight cat stared back at him, having positioned itself on the edge of the worn down planks with its striped tail pointed straight up.

Lucius didn't have the energy to ask the Scourge why it was there. All it did was act creepy, and he could deal with that.

"Well, here we are," Derek said, and Lucius blinked. He'd barely noticed that they had reached the outskirts already.

The houses were, in a lack of better words, mediocre. They were far from luxurious, but the contrasting wealth that plagued the inner town hadn't quite affected them as much.

Lucius followed Derek's gaze to one of the bigger houses on the street. He'd expected anyone making deals with the BBT would have some kind of greater income, but the surrounding garden did not imply this at all.

"Are you... Sure someone lives here?" he asked as they waded through the grass. There were vague hints of a pathway underneath, but most of it had been overgrown by weeds and wildflowers.

"Neighbours have expressed concerns over the person apparently living here," was Derek's reply. "Besides, the grass is trampled."

Lucius looked ahead to notice Derek was right. There were indeed traces of someone having walked through before them.

"Why am I having doubts these people will be able to pay up?" Lucius' laugh was low, but matching the attitude Derek seemed to have.

He received no answer though and his shoulders slumped. Despite the somewhat friendly, yet disturbing, conversation earlier it seemed he still wasn't trusted when it concerned business.

"You knock," Derek then said just to prove Lucius wrong. "I might scare them off if they see me first."

"You know what? I'm not surprised." Lucius smiled, and Derek's crooked smile returned as well.

After Lucius had knocked on the door he frowned, and turned back to look at Derek.

"That was a jab at your violent nature, not your looks."

"I assumed."

A creak alerted them that the door was opening, and Derek took a long step to the side right before Lucius stood face to face with a man, skin like a sheet of paper and clothes barely holding together.

"Uh..." Lucius began, not sure where to start with that.

"What do you want?" the man asked. His voice trembled, and to Lucius' disgust his breath smelled as though something had curled up, died and rotted in his throat.

"Well, we're..." Lucius inhaled through his mouth. "... Here on behalf of the BBT, and—"

"No." The man's face twisted in horror, finally glancing to the side where Derek was standing, and he began backing away from the door. "I didn't—I wasn't... I didn't mean for it to—To happen. Just—Just leave me alone."

Lucius clicked his tongue. Of course, he should have expected such behaviour since they had come all this way. He had most likely avoided them for some time.

"Listen," he therefore said, making an attempt to imitate the cold tone of Damien's voice before stepping forward. "We can either do this quickly, or we could—"

Air escaped his lungs, and he could barely let out a cough as the man slammed his hand into his chest, sending him flying backwards with an unnatural force.

"Alright, let's play nice," Derek said and held out an arm to stop Lucius from being hurled back further. "No shoving."

"Get out!" the man yelled, even more agitated and desperate than before. A wild look had appeared in his eyes, and as Derek closed the door behind them things started to dawn on Lucius.

"We're not... Here for money, are we?" he asked under a weak breath, eyes widening as the man in front of him began shifting in form. His torso expanded at a rapid pace while his fingers grew longer. Much longer than Richard's ever did, and his hands remained furless, but it was nevertheless a supernatural occurrence.

Instead of growing longer however, the man's nose was pressed back, only widening in shape as his ears grew large and pointy. It wasn't until his arms sprouted thin membranes to form something resembling wings that Lucius remembered what Ethan had said about vampires, and how some of them had different abilities than him.

Shifters.

In retrospect perhaps werewolves weren't so scary after all, Lucius thought as the now fully transformed, giant bat-monster let out a shrill, paralysing screech, booming enough to have pushed him further back if Derek hadn't been there.

At least regular werewolves could be imagined as overgrown, fluffy dogs that just happened to be terribly dangerous. Giant bat mutations though? Not so much.

Lucius couldn't move. The high pitched noise made his ears ring and it took a great summoning of focus for him to even consider escaping.

To his frustration, Derek was blocking the doorway.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he hissed as his body finally listened to him and he tried to push the man to the side. "We're not fighting that!"

"You wanted to prove yourself." Derek didn't move an inch, expression eerily bored as the beast started thrashing around the room, seemingly uncertain what to do with itself. "I also said no shoving, but if you insist..."

Lucius gasped as Derek proceeded to push him forward in the creature's direction, only managing to dodge to the side before it lashed out at him.

He threw himself to the side and crouched in order to use a small table as a shield, sending Derek a murdering stare.

"And you're gonna what, just stand there?"

Derek shrugged, and Lucius was just about to yell at him again when he noticed the beast had turned its eyes in Derek's direction.

"Der—" Lucius began, but paused as Derek held out one of his guns, pointing it towards one of the empty walls.

"He's a young one," the man said, voice as indifferent as his pale, grey eyes. "Very inexperienced, and very predictable."

"What are you—" Lucius' eyes widened again, unable to process the scene in front of him as Derek pulled the trigger at the exact same time the creature's erratic movements sent it crashing right into the wall Derek had aimed at, and the latter sighed.

Lucius had no further words to scream. Instead he covered his ears, only looking away once the gunshot had sounded and the target had fallen to the floor.

A moment of silence passed, then Derek began fanning away smoke in front of him and walked over to the bleeding heap on the floor. Lucius hesitated at first, but his curiosity would not let him stay back, so he followed along.

"Nothing new," Derek declared as he inspected the body. "A smaller one, but not exactly noteworthy."

Lucius did not feel good about it being a smaller one.

"What the Waste was this about?" he still had to ask amid all his fear and shock, pausing to cough out the smoke that had entered his throat. "You didn't say a single word about this. That—That this was what we were here for."

"You wanted to be a member," Derek pointed out, standing up to face Lucius. "Is it so wrong of us to assume you know what we actually do at the BBT then?"

"I..." Lucius had no words. What was Derek talking about? His mind tried to puzzle things together, but few things wanted to click. The BBT were trying to find the Larkspur order, which meant they did know about supernatural beings, but why? And why were they killing them on sight?

"And that..." Derek flicked Lucius' nose. "... Is why I figure Anthony hasn't told you anything."

Lucius only blinked as the man walked past him to reach the door. What exactly had Anthony left out? Did he actually need to go back and make him talk again?

Frustration returned. Just how many fucking times would he have to go through that?

He suddenly flinched as the bat-monster twitched, a low cry escaping its throat.

"Shit," he whispered, hurriedly backing away. "I thought you'd killed it."

"Well, no. Regular bullets don't kill vampires." Derek's voice still dripped with mockery. "Even without Anthony, Eeth should have told you that."

... Ethan?

He had told him though. Lucius had just assumed if Derek had come there to kill a vampire, he'd have come prepared.

"Then why are you just standing there?" Lucius hissed, dismissing the ever so apparent ridicule and threw a cautious glance at the vampire. "Either we kill it properly or we get out of here!"

Derek sighed again at this, leaning his shoulder against the doorway.

"See, there's a problem with that," he said, and Lucius didn't like the way his face shifted into one of exaggerated remorse.

"... What?"

"Well, you're not supposed to get out of here." Derek shook his head. "Or Damien wouldn't have agreed to let you come."

Lucius paled.

"E—Excuse me?"

"It's nothing personal on my part," Derek assured him in a twisted attempt to comfort him. "I like to think you had potential, but... When cases like you appear, I'm not the one calling the shots."

"You—You can't," Lucius sputtered and tried to reach Derek. "Anthony's gonna be furious!"

"Yeah..." Derek lingered on the word, and his nose scrunched up as if he felt bad. "... But Damien says it's better that way."

Then he punched Lucius in the stomach, taking his gun in the process.

"Taking this back," he informed as Lucius tried regaining his breath. "Be a waste not to."

Lucius couldn't say anything. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't beg for mercy, even if it meant dying.

"I don't know if it matters, but if you end up in another life one way or another..." Derek said before stepping through the door. "... You'd do well in staying away from the Hargreaveses."

He then paused as he thought of something, and pointed down at the vampire slowly rising from the floor, trying to shake its dizziness.

"Oh, and in case you end up as one of those..." He looked up at Lucius again with an amused smirk. "... You should absolutely stay away from the Hargreaveses."

Then he closed the door, and Lucius was left alone with a distressed, vengeful vampire-beast.