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As he prowled through the woods, Sebastien searched the compound for the perfect spot to pounce. But he wasn't using his eyes to find it; he used his ability to detect life force and the emotions of its owner. He located the prisoner with the gloomiest, saddest aura, and covered behind a berry bush. The person he found was desperate to be done with their life, so he'd give them what they wanted, and in return, he'd get what he wanted.

          Three minutes until Caleb's distraction. He wished that he could contact the human and tell him to go now, but maybe having a little time to prepare was a good thing.

          Sebastien evaluated the fog. It was thick enough for him to shroud himself inside, so he spread his wings and propelled himself up. When he reached the treetops, he hovered there and switched from his normal sight to that which allowed him to see auras.

          There were twenty-two dark, depressing silhouettes in the compound's courtyard. Sebastien knew that they were Caeleste suffering from ethos drain, which was caused by surripio, a sedative created for the sole purpose of weakening Caeleste so much that they could barely stay conscious.

          He scowled angrily, and when he noticed that the guards were all human, his anger turned to fury. Why were humans managing Caeleste? That compound looked exactly like the sort of prison Caeleste were gathered up into during the war to try and increase the humans' chances of winning.

          Sebastien descended and landed on the ground. He was starting to feel guilty. Those Caeleste were prisoners and probably deserved to be in there, but no one deserved to feel the effects of surripio. No one.

          If Clementine were here...he'd be convincing him that breaking all those Caeleste out was the right thing to do. But Sebastien couldn't do that. He couldn't risk starting something that might fuck up his mission; he didn't want the attention, nor did he want to piss Caedis off.

          He sighed as much of his guilt away as he could and focused. Any second now, and—

          The distant blaring of a car horn cut through the silence.

          There it was.

          Sebastien felt the human auras moving towards the car horn. Now was his chance.

          He took off, flying up and above the trees. Then, he raced towards the compound, set his eyes on the man he was going to take, and then....

          And then....

          There he was again. The hitchhiker. But this time, he was in prison rags, and he wasn't looking up at Sebastien; he didn't even notice him flying overhead.

          That was the guy Caleb mentioned yesterday. The man who hitchhiked and then killed the people who picked him up, and when he was caught, he claimed he was possessed. If that wasn't true, then why was he in a Caeleste prison when he was a human?

          Sebastien was curious. He wanted the full story. Maybe it would help him work out why he kept seeing this guy. And once he was done, he'd feed him to the phantom. It was a win-win. So, he changed course and swooped down towards the hitchhiker. Before the slow man could even think about reacting, Sebastien snatched his shoulders with his front paws like a hawk and carried him up towards the clouds.

          The man didn't fight, though. All he did was groan in shock and confusion, but he let it happen. He let Sebastien carry him away like he was a grim reaper, and the feeling he got from this man was that he was relieved it was finally over.

          But it wasn't over. Sebastien wanted to know his story; he wanted to see if this man could help him understand why he was seeing a hitchhiker. First, though, he was going to have to get the surripio out of his system.

          He flapped his wings and took cover among the treetops, and when the honking car horn stopped, he began his journey towards the meeting point.

          But then he hesitated. He literally just told himself that he wasn't going to get involved in anything that might hinder his completion of Lord Caedis' tasks...and there he was carrying a man he wanted answers from, answers that might take a while to get, which meant he was going to have to hold off on feeding the phantom.

          With a quiet sigh, he used the fog to shroud himself and then looked down at the prisoner in his grasp. "Hey, dude," he said.

          "H-huh...hur...huh?" the man replied.

          Sebastien snarled irritably.

          The man whimpered and fidgeted a little, looking at the world below. Evidently, he was slowly coming around, and only just realized they were three hundred feet in the air.

          "Calm down," Sebastien told him. "You're fine."

          He grunted, but the guy stopped with his light fidgets and gave in.

          Sebastien spotted his red car in the distance. Caleb was parked behind the 'Welcome to Alderon' sign, and thankfully, there were a lot of surrounding trees that Sebastien could use to hide.

          As swiftly as he could without causing the hitchhiker to throw up, Sebastien swerved down and headed towards the ground. When he reached it, he carefully placed the hitchhiker on the grass and then landed beside him. To his relief, the guy didn't try to run; he stood there like a drunkard lost in the woods, wobbling as he looked around. And he wasn't at all horrified by Sebastien's appearance.

          "A...are..." the hitchhiker stammered, looking at him. "Are...you here...to take me...to hell?"

          Sebastien scoffed and morphed back into his normal self. "No. But I am here to help you."

          "Help...me get to hell?"

          "If that's where you want to go, sure. But first, I need something from you."

          The hitchhiker struggled to keep both his eyes open at the same time. "From...me?"

          Sebastien placed his hand on the man's shoulder and started escorting him towards the car. "Questions, that's all. You can answer them on the way."

          "To where?"

          "To hell."

          With a dumbfounded frown, the man blurted, "Y-yes. Take me. I want...this to be over."

          Sebastien stopped before they could reach the tree line and turned to face the man. "Why do you want it to be over?"

          "To be free," the hitchhiker asked as sweat dripped down the side of his face.

          "Free?"

          "Free...from him," he whispered, leaning closer to him.

          "Him?"

          "Him."

          "Who?"

          The prisoner looked around cautiously. "The creature."

          Sebastien's eyes widened a little. Could he be talking about the same creature the phantom mentioned? "What creature?"

          "He...steals my body...and he makes me...kill."

          With a quiet sigh, Sebastien started pulling him towards the tree line again. "So, all those people you killed after they picked you up, you didn't actually kill them?"

          "No!" he insisted, hunching forward. He looked around fearfully and shivered. "He wants...blood. He must...feed to survive."

          Judging from what he was saying—and keeping Caleb's description of the man's story in mind—Sebastien felt it was safe to assume that the creature this man was referring to was actually a damned spirit. Damned spirits clung to this world; they didn't want to pass on to what waited on the other side, so in order to stay, they had to kill and devour blood, thus binding them to the corpse they stole it from until it started to decay.

          Nothing the man said helped Sebastien work out why he was seeing the hitchhiker, but they still had a long journey back to Alder Estate, which meant he had time to ask more questions.

          "Let's go," Sebastien said as he led the guy out of the forest and over to the car.

          "Sebastien!" Caleb called in relief as he rolled down the window. "W-wait...is that.... Why did you take him? I thought you said you didn't—"

          "I changed my mind," he interjected as he pulled the back door open. "Get in," he said, ushering the prisoner into the car.

          He got in without a fight and made himself comfortable.

          Sebastien got in, too, and then started the engine.

          "Why did you change your mind?" Caleb whispered.

          "Because I did," he grumbled. He wasn't going to tell him he'd been seeing the very hitchhiker who was sitting behind them.

          Caleb nervously fiddled with his fingers as Sebastien started driving. He glanced back at the hitchhiker, looked at Sebastien, and then set his eyes on the prisoner again. "So, uh...what's your name? Everyone just calls you The Hitchhiker, so...."

          "N-name?" the prisoner stuttered.

          "I'm Cal—"

          "We don't get to know the sacrifices, Caleb," Sebastien interrupted, rolling his eyes. "The guy wants to die. Leave him alone."

          Caleb pouted and glared out the window as Sebastien drove along the forest roads.

          "P...Peter," the hitchhiker mumbled.

          Sebastien sighed and glanced at the man in his rear-view mirror. "Tell me more about the creature who made you kill"

          Peter looked at him in the mirror.

          "What did it look like?"

          "Look...like?"

          Sebastien watched the road, trying to be patient.

          "Evil...spirit. Evil spirit. Evil...spirit."

          He rolled his eyes and sighed. He wasn't going to get anywhere with this guy, was—

          "Make...deal."

          Sebastien looked at him in the mirror again. "Deal?"

          "Deal...to help."

          "You made a deal with an evil spirit?" Caleb asked, turning in his seat a little so he could face Peter.

          "What kind of deal?" Sebastien questioned.

          "Deal to help. Deal to help."

          "Help who?" Caleb asked. "The spirit?"

          Peter nodded slowly. "Spirit...and Peter."

          "You mean you?" Sebastien asked.

          The hitchhiker shook his head. "Peter. Brother."

          Caleb tapped his chin as he said, "You made a deal with this evil spirit to help your brother, Peter? Peter is your brother's name?"

          "Help Peter," the hitchhiker confirmed.

          Sebastien glanced at him again. "What was the deal?"

          "Peter...hurt. Peter sick. Very. Attacked...by wolf walker. Infected. Wanted...cure," he shakily explained.

          Caleb looked at Sebastien. "Is he okay? He looks a little...pale—"

          The hitchhiker suddenly retched and threw up all over the back seats.

          "Oh, my fucking God!" Sebastien exclaimed in disgust, scowling at the man in the mirror. "Are you fucking serious?!"

          "Ew..." Caleb gagged.

          The hitchhiker whimpered and wiped his mouth. "S-s-sorry. I...feel bad."

          "Yeah, it's the fucking surripio they've got you doped up on. Your next dose was due soon, right?" Sebastien grumbled.

          "I-I...yes," the man answered. "Needle. Inject."

          Sebastien rolled his eyes. "You'll start feeling better soon. Now keep talking. Wolf walker bite, cure."

          The hitchhiker wiped his mouth again and grunted quietly. "Spirit promise...cure Peter. In exchange...I help."

          "So, in exchange for curing your brother of lycanthropy, you helped the spirit kill so it could remain tethered to this world, correct?" Sebastien asked him.

          "Y-yes."

          "Huh..." Caleb scoffed. "Did...the spirit cure Peter?"

          The hitchhiker's sick, depressed look grew gloomier as he hung his head in sorrow. "Peter dead. Spirit lie. Spirit...keep using me. I stuck...until policeman stopped me."

          Caleb frowned sympathetically. "Oh...is that why you...want to die?"

          He nodded and looked around cautiously. "And...escape. Be free from spirit."

          "Where's the spirit now?" Caleb asked before Sebastien could.

          "Somewhere...out there," he said fearfully, looking out through the car windows like he was searching for it.

          Could that be why Sebastien was seeing the hitchhiker? Was it his subconscious warning him to be careful with the deal he'd made with Lord Caedis? He'd already been roped into doing more than he agreed because he didn't read the contract, and now he wondered...was this hitchhiker a sign that he should make sure he wasn't about to be tricked into serving Lord Caedis for eternity?

          He scowled when he remembered what Lord Caedis said about their contract not specifying one job. Did that mean he was going to have to do jobs for Lord Caedis...for the rest of his life?

          No. He'd only agreed to do things here in Alderon and Alder Estate. That was it. But he was going to have to make sure. He needed to look at that contract and ensure he wasn't trapped with Lord Caedis the same way the hitchhiker was trapped with the damned spirit.

          "What's wrong?" Caleb suddenly asked.

          "What?" Sebastien snapped.

          "You look a little...ill. We can stop and get the car cleaned, you know. There's a car wash up—"

          "No. I'm fine. I just wanna get back to the estate and get this over with."

          "Over...with?" the hitchhiker asked. "End...me? Free?"

          "Yes, yes," Sebastien mumbled dismissively. He felt like he got what he needed from this guy. Seeing him was a warning, and he was going to heed it. Now, it was time to get back to the phantom and feed it, and then he could get the last of his answers.

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