The birdman sprinted down the street. His coat flapped against the wind, almost giving him the appearance of flight. A smirk formed behind the mask as he ventured through the darkness. Even though his part was done for the night, he desired to see the fruits of someone else's labor. He halted on a dime, quickly continuing his pursuit down a narrow path. His sprint slowed to a jog until he was greeted by familiar figures. The silhouette of a woman appeared from the darkness. Her outline barely visible. She was accompanied by another, his hat covering his face. The woman had an unconscious body by her side, completely limp in her grasp. The man accompanying her held a man, blood lightly trickling from his neck.

The man hovered the bag in front of him, allowing the blood to trail all over the walls and floor lightly. "It should spread evenly by the morning comes…" The man whispered.

"Hmmm…" The woman hummed shrewdly as she set down the two unconscious bodies against the wall. Her look was slightly more visible as she approached the birdman. She had a look of aggravation on her face with her arms crossed. "Did you forget something?"

The darkman stopped, keeping his position. He thought for a moment before sucking a breath through his teeth. "I can't believe it, I did."

The woman kept her agitated expression as she beckoned him closer. He froze. He was afraid what the woman would do to him. He tucked the man under his arm before approaching her. His head bowed with apology. "I'm sorry, My Lady. I did. Forgive me. I shall take care of it shortly."

"No." She interjected causing the man to shoot his head up in worry. "I'll have the doctor here do it."

"Madam?" The birdman asked softly. "What has he forgotten?"

The woman spoke, her eyebrow twitched, "He forgot about the two girls…"

The birdman gasped, finally becoming aware of the situation. "Madam! We must act quickly! The prosecutor and detective may plan on seeking witnesses."

Her arms unfolded and gazed at the birdman, "I trust you take care of them for me. Bring them to the lab."

The birdman held his hat before bowing. He shrugged his shoulders in a circular motion. He inhaled deeply and bent his legs. He heaved himself out of the dampened space and around the block, hunting for his prey.

Her eyes dragged back to the man, his head still down in regret and disappointment. "I'm sorry, My Lady…"

She merely shook her head in disapproval and gazed back at the body on the floor. "Next time, be careful. And make sure you are quick on your feet. The doctor had to stall in order for you to get the girl…" She stopped, staring into the dark space where a strange gushing sound was being emitted. "However… for what he did for her… I'll spare her… for him."

"I was surprised myself, My Lady." He bowed his arm lightly. "Though I will admit, I really wanted her."

"Hmph…" She exhaled a pout, not surprised by his response. "You would…" The words quipped through her lips.

"Instead… I had to have this one here." He bumped the unconscious man against his hip.

"At least you had something." She bobbed her head in sarcasm.

She turned her direction to the noise. "Almost done."

Her booted heels avoided the trails of blood, dragging her gloved hands across the brick walls. The journey down the space led her to a disposal area. The local cameras were destroyed and torn off their hinges, dangling weakly by a few wires. The man followed her, allowing more blood to lightly trickle from the man he was dragging. He tilted his head with interest on the scene. The horror in front of them didn't bother them one bit.

A large darkened creature held a person who was writhing and gasping. The large clawed hands held down their torso and arms as the other tilted back their head, covering their eyes and causing their mouth to be gaped widely. The person's weak attempt to fight back was in vain. They struggled to stay awake while the creature had the large red barbed appendage writhed happily in their throat, having a smorgasbord of a meal.

"At least he didn't stop breathing like the last one." She shrugged lightly, entirely unphased by the monster having a feast in front of her. "Mistake on my part." The victim gasped for air as the creature arched forward.

"Oh! Here's where the magic happens." She pointed eagerly, laughing lightly to herself, urging the man next to her to stare.

The creature arched closer to the vested victim, his legs twitching, as his body tried to fight back the writhing snake in his mouth. The appendage twitched slightly, following a weird gurgling from the victim. He thrashed violently, his body suddenly tensed as his back arched forward before his body went limp. The barbed tongue slowly retreated back into the creature's mouth, pincers unsheathed as it nestled neatly into its trachea.

The woman approached the creature, tapping its shoulder, "Well done!" A wicked smile forming on her face. "Take him home."

The creature grabbed the victim by his vest and escalated up the building, leaving claw marks upward.

The darkman sighed happily, "That was nice."

The woman chuckled lightly, "I know!"

Trucy shook Pearl, "Pearly? Pearl! Please! Snap out of it!"

The magician shook the spirit medium violently. It's been about fifteen to twenty minutes the magician tried to get Pearl's attention. The spirit medium's eyes were wide, unblinking with her mouth slackjawed. Trucy was afraid that she wasn't breathing right either, the way how her breathing was erratic and irregular. Pearl was traumatized by what occurred in front of her. The evil smile, the cab driver, Apollo chasing after him and the way the driver tapped her on the back of her neck, believing that he may have killed Athena by the way her body limped.

The magician became frantic, her eyes blurred with tears as she continued shaking the spirit medium. "Pearl! Please!"

Trucy stopped. She realized she was all alone. Athena was gone. Apollo was gone. Phoenix was gone. Maya was gone. Just Pearl and her remained. The lone survivors of the night, even though Pearl was mentally absent. The magician stared at the traumatized spirit medium before lowering her non-related siblings eyelids. Trucy buried herself on Pearl's lap, balling her eyes as her whimpers muffled through Pearl's dress. The silent ambience was cracked by a whistle of the wind. Trucy shot her head up. She attempted calling her father, but it led straight to voicemail.

She finally decided to dial for the police, frantically pressing the screen on her phone, but she dropped it. There was metallic bang against the car. Her head flashed behind her, she slammed the driver's door shut before locking it. She dragged Pearl to the back seat and laid her on the cab floor, hidden in the dim shade. Trucy quickly darted her look around the car. Gazing low around the windows. Sweat trickled down her forehead and dripped onto the worn seats of the cab. She thrusted her hands around on the floor, rummaging to find her phone. A weird scrape shrouded the car loudly. Trucy covered her ears tightly, the high pitch sounded like a sharply edged rake against a chalkboard, dragging slowly and menacingly to pierce the ears' of the occupants of the car. Her eyes squinted as the noise somehow still motioned passed her hands. The screeching and annoying pitch stopped. Trucy released her ears, quietly sighing relief as her ears rung from the pain.

She winced as a shadow bolted across the car. Her eyes flashed left and right, her breathing quickened. A burning sensation of apprehension managed to replace her panic. She kept her head low in the back seat, watching Pearl who was clueless to the situation Trucy was in. Glass shards suddenly bursted forward inside the car and onto the passenger seat, some flying to the back seat. Trucy yelped by the sudden incident. She turned around, greeted with black bolted eyes, a mere whisper away from her face. She froze, pegged in her spot. The black goggled eyes kept staring at her. Trucy saw her frightened expression on the black rounded holes of the mask.

"Don't worry, little one…" The birdman whispered. Trucy's lips quivered as the metallic voice huffed, "But I can't let you remember this night…"

Trucy trembled in front of the birdman, who was snickering in front of her. He looked down, his beak lightly touching her skin. The touch sent chills up her spine. The dark figure eyed Pearl, resting on the cab floor. "And neither can she…"

Trucy didn't know how to react to the stranger's words. She wished with all her heart that someone would save her and Pearl. 'Daddy! Apollo! Anybody!' But her hopes reached no one. There was no escape for her. It was her turn, to join the same fate as the rest. To be put to rest.

Regina scribbled on her notepad, peering back at the monitor. "Vitals signs are all optimal."

The birdman walked over to his work bench, removed his mask and shook his head. A gasp of fresh air entered his lungs, the smell of antiseptics and sterilization intruding his nose. He placed the black and white mask on the hinge and removed his coat, placing it on the rack as well. An arm shooting into a white labcoat and walked towards his partner.

"I took care of everything, Madam." His complexion absolved from the night's splendor.

"I am more than confident of your abilities, doctor." She took her eyes off the notes and at him. "I am very proud."

He exhaled cheerfully before gazing at the restrained patients. "How are the results coming along, Madam?"

She smiled at him with satisfaction. "Well…" Her voice pompous. "The first blood culture is extracted. It is a wonderful start." Her tone deceived him. She was hiding the content she actually felt, maintaining her professionalism. "We just need to wait for the other three."

"I am very eager, Madam." His tone also lied to her. "Soon, our work will come to fruition. We will enjoy the transformation mankind will experience."

"Doctor, you're making me very anxious." Her face splayed with a toothy grin.

The birdman bowed attentively, "Forgive me, Madam."

"Don't apologize, doctor. I do enjoy your company. So please, help me feed the patients." Her voice revealing the eagerness at last. She escorted herself towards a cabinet and removed a strange siphon from a black box in one of her hands. They peered through the glass, separating them from the man under sedatives on the table. "He's a handsome man, isn't he?"

The doctor shot her a confused look. She guffawed by his reaction. He whimpered heartily before removing an extra siphon. Regina pressed several buttons on a padlock before the glass dome opened, sheathing into cracks of the laboratory bed. She removed a small flashlight from her lab coat and lifted one of the eyelid's of the patient. His pupil flexed outward and inward. She gave a concerned stare, closing his eye. Opening his mouth, she examined his teeth, gums, tongue and tonsils before scribbling notes down. "Patient 26381: Healthy mouth structure, wounds are completely healed." She stuck her fingers into his throat, latching onto a slimy appendage before pulling it out. "Suitor Tongue has grown."

She eyed the limp appendage, pressing it lightly with her thumbs, "pincers have also grown, but lack sharpness to latch on properly."She paused, "Uh… He's starving…"

The birdman finished siphoning the fusion mixture into another patient before returning to Regina. "Doctor, write this down for me."

"Yes, Madam." The birdman wrote an abbreviation of her observations. Her white rubber gloves traveled down the slimy red structure before squeezing the base. She shook her head. "It's still too early. No suitor cells formed yet."

The birdman sighed shallowly. Regina patted him on the shoulder, "Listen. There's no need for that. We must rejoice! All we have to do is wait and keep those pesky investigators at bay and finally redemption will be at hand!"

The doctor gave her a visible smirk, "You're right, Madam..."

"Come now, doctor. Let me feed him first."She folded her arms, handing him a faint smile of appreciation.

She shifted her view towards another vested patient. His mouth slack-jawed. Regina didn't have trouble opening his mouth, pulling his jaw downward. "We have to clean him up. The cuts are sliced neatly. They'll heal before he even wakes up." She stirred her view to him. "Then give these patients the usual forget-me-pill. We have to return the 'drunk' guests home." She winked at him deviously.

He reflected her smile on his face. "We shall."