"So here is what we have..." Audrey began, holding a small stack of papers as he stood before both the desk of his superior intelligence agent, as well as before Elizabeth in order to discuss his findings. "I took the list of names that Darzi got from those suspicious-looking e-mails that Pomeroy was sending back and forth, and found that almost all of them were sent by wealthy people both in and out of the aristocracy. They seem to be interested in large amounts of people. Like, not normal for someone just looking for a prostitute. It doesn't matter who it is, what they look like, or what sex they are. This is human trafficking on a large scale. Uhm..."

He paused, fiddling with his papers for a moment before pulling out the document he needed and offering it to the women. It was taken by Lieutenant Suyin Chu and peered at by Dame Hellsing, from there. "Here's a list of all of the known customers, their orders, and the drop-off points associated with them." Messing with his papers again, he repeated the action. "And… This is a list of items that they've smuggled as well as who for and where they were last reported to be. There's not a lot of interest there, though. Mostly drugs. I circled things that looked like they could be diabolical objects, but as off right now, we don't have any confirmation yet."

"Thank you, Mister Baines. This is very helpful." Lieutenant Chu replied. "Get us any confirmation you can. I'll talk to our tech investigators for anything else on his computer." Elizabeth, however, still seemed unpleased.

"I'd like to move in as soon as we have any solid evidence." she said. "We need to wrap this up soon."

"We don't have enough yet for us to move in." stated the Lieutenant. "We also can't pass on the human trafficking details on to the police, either. We don't want them accidentally stomping all over our information. Has Pomeroy been interrogated?"

"Yes, but he's keeping his mouth shut." Elizabeth sighed. "He absolutely refuses to say a word. At this rate, I'm going to have to call the demons back in to bewitch it out of him."

"It's better than nothing, I suppose." Reaching across the desk, Suyin took the remainder of the reports from Audrey so she could look them over. "Thank you, Mister Baines. That will be all."

"Yes, ma'am." Offering her a salute, the reaper walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Before either woman could say anything, however, he opened it again and poked his head back inside.

"Uhm..." he began. "There's something else I want to point out. Just so we're clear and it doesn't appear that I withheld any information."

"What is it?"

"One of the people on that list is a Mister Raymond Blythe. He's a shareholder at my stepfather's company." Audrey explained. "He's creepy. Obsessed with prosthesis and artificial organs. Might be important. I don't think my dad's involved in anything, but I have his number, if you need to contact him. Do you want me to add it to the report?"

"Oh. Alright. That would be helpful." the Lieutenant replied, surprised at the man's honesty. "Thank you very much."

Wordlessly, Audrey walked back into the room and picked up a pen from a holder sitting on the desk and flipped through the documents until he found the right page. He quickly jotted down a the telephone number and a note explaining what it was before putting the pen back and heading out to leave. Funnily enough, he gave the two women a thumbs up before disappearing back to his own station, leaving them to question his professionalism somewhat.

"At least he's honest." Elizabeth said with a shrug.

"He's not the most professional operative, but he gets fast results and doesn't bother anyone, so it's difficult to mind." the other woman replied while glancing through the pages. "There's a lot of information, though, and it's going to take a while to find out if it's useful… Maybe bringing in the demons really is the best idea."

"I'll make the call in a bit. Is there anything else I need to know while I'm here?"

"Not that I'm aware of as of yet… I'll call you as soon as we find anything. Should I call your office or your mobile?"

"Probably the mobile. I might be running around for a while." Pausing, the Hellsing added. "What about the Hilarion case? We to the victim's computer there, too."

"I haven't looked over the information yet, but I can get you copies if you want to look over them yourself."

"In that case, I should just head to my office after all, then… Send someone to put them on my desk when you can." the angel instructed, heading toward the door, herself. "I'm going to summon some demons."

"Good luck."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Chu."

"No problem, Dame Hellsing." Suyin said, rolling her chair toward the filing cabinet so she didn't have to get up. While the other left, she fished out the files and picked up the phone to get one of her flunkies to make copies and send them where they needed to be. In the end, she ended up calling Audrey right back.

Elizabeth, on the other hands, went back to her office to call the demons and review the information that she already had currently at her disposal. Looking over the findings of the Ring of Hilarion case, she did find something that helped her cause immensely. Obviously, Audrey wasn't the one who handle the report, since the person who submitted it failed to summerise the contents to Lieutenant Chu, and the Lieutenant obviously didn't look over it, just as she said. If she had, she would have noticed right away that a name of interest came up, prompting her to smile somewhat. Now, she had some leverage on the Pomeroy, or at least something to interrogate him about in detail.

While the Pomeroys smuggled in people and objects, this was the first instance where Julian Pomeroy had been caught smuggling a known diabolical object. From his e-mails, however, he didn't seem to know what exactly it was or what it did, but knew that his client would pay a lot of money for it if he agreed to meet at a certain time and place to haul it into the country. There were explicit instructions to not wear it. Thus, it's true nature was never fully realised until the poor rich man placed it on his finger. It was a pretty strong lead.

Calling the demons to force out more information, on the other hand, was tricky in its own right. Alois himself could not bewitch Mister Pomeroy, but Ciel and Sebastian could. Ciel was informed right away of the situation and immediately wanted to leave his post at the training base in order to see what his husband's target is like. Aside from the fact that he would have to leave his post and Elizabeth can't have him doing that, Ciel was also known to have a reputation for treating those who upset or harm his spouse with utmost hostility and aggression. If Julian said the wrong thing, he might end up with missing front teeth just as easily as he would with Alois. Perhaps moreso. Thus, Elizabeth strongly suggested that he stand down and allow his butler to come in instead.

Sebastian was always an intimidating sight wherever he went, but at the HELLSING base, he seemed massively ominous. He wore his black butler's uniform, causing him to stand out against the military uniforms and doctor's coats that were usually present at the base. He glided down the corridor, following behind Elizabeth while wearing his seemingly perpetually amused smile on his face.

"He's in here." Elizabeth said, gesturing to the room. "I'll be coming with you in case there's any more questions I need to ask."

"Alright." the butler replied. "Thank you for having me."

"Thank you for helping us!" the woman insisted. "I have no idea how else we're going to do this. He seems used to dealing with interrogations."

"Well, mobster-types often are." Nodded Sebastian before reaching out to open the door. He held it open for her and gestured for her to walk through. "Shall we get to work?"

"We shall."

This wasn't an ordinary interrogation room. It had the same boring white walls and tiled floors, but they were in the medical wing, given the man's injuries. Pomeroy was handcuffed to his bed and positioned in so that he was seated upright with his body leaning up against his propped up bed. He didn't look too pleased. At the sight of Elizabeth, Julian stiffened up and rolled his eyes.

"You again?" he scoffed before looking at Sebastian. "Oh, great. Did you bring another one of your flunkies to beat me up? That's assault! As soon as I get out of here, I'm gonna sue the shit out of you."

"That's nice." the woman said. "Julian Pomeroy, this is Sebastian Michaelis. Sebastian Michaelis, this is Julian Pomeroy."

"Pleased to meet you." the butler greeted, offering a polite nod.

"Bugger off." Julian snorted. "I didn't do a goddamn thing. You should be out there, looking for the son of a bitch who killed my daughter instead! But no, you have to harass the victims instead!"

"Will it be faster to try interrogating him, or should we just skip to force?" the woman asked her associate, ignoring Pomeroy completely.

"I believe it will be both faster and easier to simply skip the interrogation." Sebastian confirmed.

"In that case, he's all yours."

With that, Sebastian smiled, cracking his knuckles and walking over to Mister Pomeroy. Holding out his hands, he reached for the sides of the other man's head in order to hold him still. Fortunately, it was easy, no matter how Julian struggled, due to the fact that they had the man handcuffed.

"Don't touch me!" Julian shouted as he tried to wrestle away. "Don't fucking touch me, you… smarmy, Dracula-looking, piece of shit!"

"You flatter me." the demon chuckled before forcing eyecontact with the mobster. His eyes glowed and reflected in the eyes of his target. In an instant, the previously argumentative and defiant man froze. His expression fell and he was trapped in the demon's trance.

"What do you know about diabolical objects?" Sebastian asked, cutting to the chase. Just as quickly as he asked, he received his answer.

"People want me to smuggle them." answered Julian, speaking in monotone.

"Do you know what your clients want them for?"

"To gain immortality most of the time." the Pomeroy replied.

"What about the rest of the time?"

"I don't know."

"Alright." Sebastian looked back at Elizabeth and watched her jot things down before carrying on. "Who have you been smuggling for?"

"The Philosopher's Society." Answered Julian, prompting the demon to look back at Elizabeth to see if she knew what that meant. All he received in return, however, was a shrug.

"Who is The Philosopher's Society?"

"A bunch of rich idiots trying to be immortal."

"Are they?"

"No. Most of 'em are just crazy."

"What are their names?" Sebastian asked, prompting the Pomeroy to start naming names. The entire time, Elizabeth stood back with the list she had in her hand and checked them off each time they came up. In total, every single person that was flagged as "suspicious" by Mister Baines was named by Julian Pomeroy. When asked about the remaining names, he informed them that they were regular customers ordering for parties. Their names were handed off to the police.

Meanwhile, the Hellsing woman was pleased with the confirmation. Not only did she have evidence to start looking into these people, she also knew what the group was called. "The Philosopher's Society." After asking the Pomeroy everything he knew about them, taking up more than an hour to interrogate him, Elizabeth was satisfied with the information she had.

"I think that's all I can get from him, Dame Hellsing." Sebastian said, standing upright.

"Good. I have everything I need to press further, now. We're done with him." the woman replied, resting her clipboard underneath her arm. "I know that Jim wants him, but how does he want us to do this? Does he want to come here, or us to drop Pomeroy off somewhere..?"

"No. He said that he doesn't mind who kills him as long as he dies." Sebastian answered.

"What?!" barked Julian, causing Sebastian to look back at him. Immediately, the mobster began to pull at his restraints and scream. "Don't you fucking dare! Murders! You killed Miley, didn't you!? Didn't you!? You bastards! You're messing with the wrong family!"

"Oh, dear… I got distracted." The butler tsked himself and shook his head. Reaching into his coat, he took out a syringe and prepared the needle. "Let me fix that."

With one hand, he grabbed a fist full of Julian's hair and tilted the man's head to the side, exposing his neck. With his other hand, Sebastian held the syringe and stabbed his victim with it, flushing out the contents with his thumb. Then, the demon calmly released him and took a few steps back.

"He will be quiet in a few moments." the demon said while holding up the syringe. "Is there a good place to throw this out? Also, I do believe that calling the cleanup crew will be most appropriate very soon."

All the while he said this, Julian was still screaming profanities at him. Eventually, however, he cut himself off as his eyes became glassy and unfocused, while his head began to slump over. "Bastard..." he choked out, glaring at Sebastian to the best of his ability. Even though his hand was cuffed, he managed to raise his middle finger as his breath became laboured. Then, all at once, he stopped, falling back into his bed, his eyes wide open.

"There we are." declared the butler before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his cell phone. "I should notify master Jim."

"Mm-hm." nodded Elizabeth, still shocked at the nonchalance of it all, but she held her tongue. She didn't like the lack of warning, but it was bound to happen anyway and it couldn't be taken back, now. "I'll notify the cleanup crew and submit this information to the research department. Please notify Jim that we would like any remaining Pomeroys who might know something to be taken in alive from now on."

"Very well." Sebastian replied. "Thank you for your hospitality."

The deed was done. Elizabeth got the information she needed and Julian Pomeroy was dead. One might think that killing him was a bit rash, but it wasn't as though tracking down the people of interest on their list would be difficult to find. Their whereabouts and places of employment were not secret. All that could be done now was passing on that information and confirmation of their suspicions back to the Intelligence Department for further investigation. Field agents would be launched as soon as they had further information as to what they were stepping into.

The organisation was efficient and accustomed to situations like these, despite the stakes. For most operatives, this was all routine business and they did their jobs like normal. Granted, they did prioritise this operation at the request of Dame Hellsing, but other than that, they were progressing with their usual fine-tuned skills and abilities in order to get the job done.

Intelligence wasn't the only department working that day, however. All departments worked around the clock and elsewhere in the building was the Media Management Department and its sub-divisions, hard at work making sure that the secret of the supernatural world's existence was safe. In the age of social media and online forums, it was a daunting task. Luckily, they had a skilled team working around the clock to make sure that the supernatural citizens of the United Kingdom were safe and the general population was kept in blissful ignorance.

One of their newest members, Revy Macken, was hard at work at his station, sitting with multiple tabs on three different computer screens. Since he was most familiar with supernatural forums, that is where he had been instructed to cause mayhem and confusion, as he hadn't been trained for other social media platforms quite yet. Essentially, he was a professional troll, using various tactics to either dissuade regular humans from investigating areas where there might be supernaturals or where there were known supernaturals, as well as finding and discrediting information that was actually close to the mark on truthfulness. In addition to this, he would fabricate false leads, creating elaborate stories that sound credible to send people on wild goose chases, only to find nothing. That way, they would become discouraged and be less likely to attempt hunting again.

"Hey, Frank, do you have any grainy pictures of forests I can use?" asked one of the other employees. "I forgot to take pictures yesterday."

"Yeah, sure." another agent replied before passing over a memory stick.

Fortunately for Revy, he was on top of this and had his own pictures prepared. That said, he wasn't yet adept at Photoshop, however, and had to rely on others for doctored images. All he had for the week was a folder of pictures he could use for the week. If he ran out, he could repeat images, but it was more "credible" if he only used them once.

Leaning back in his chair, he looked over what he was just about to post, trying to make sure it was fantastical enough, but still grounded in reality. He also checked for spelling mistakes and tried to make things seem as organic as possible. Lightly tapping a finger on one of the keys, never pressing hard enough to trigger it, he thought for a moment before making one last alteration and submitting the post. Then, he moved on to another account on a different forum to scroll through comments.

"You're pretty good." said a voice from behind him, prompting him to turn around. Although, he could smell the cigarette smoke of the head of the department without doing so. Looking over his shoulder was a rather sharp-looking man with neat hair, a smart suit, and a pair of flashy shoes. The crookedness of his nose indicated that he'd been punched in the face before, and as far as Revy knew, he probably deserved it. At times the man seemed pleasant enough and at others he came across as somewhat smarmy. Revy kept a sharp eye out for him and was careful not to make any mistakes on the job.

"Thank you, Mister Schaal." the revenant politely replied, making sure to be on his best behaviour.

"Well, you've been doing this for a while, so it's not surprising." Mister Schaal replied. "I was surprised when you told us your old username. I recognised it. Didn't suspect you were a troll at all until I met you. How's going pro, so far?"

"It's good." Revy stated. "Nicer setup, though."

"Yep. More secure IP address, too. Torr browser is fine, but always be sure to keep it updated."

"Implying you know where I live is kinda creepy, boss." the revenant retorted without thinking. Immediately, his eyes widened upon realising his mistake, but the older man just laughed.

"Yeah, but that's the job." he smiled. "Intel's the real creeps, though, even though we go through people's social media. The things people post..." Shaking his head, the man tsked while holding his cigarette. "It's unwise. Keep that snark and you'll be fine. Just don't be too much of a prick to your coworkers and I won't have to talk to you."

With that, Mister Schaal patted Revy's shoulder and walked away, leaving him confused. Blinking, Revy shook his head and turned back to his computer and tried to make his brain resume his train of thought from before he was interrupted. He went back to the forums, provided false information and agreed with others who were wrong. In addition to that, he reported those who were planing to actively go seek out supernaturals in the areas marked on his map. That way, they would be intercepted by police and told to go home, or the supernaturals in the area would be warned to steer clear. Fortunately, no one ever suspected that supernaturals could actually be living in the villages, or in town, or even the city among the humans. If things every fell to that point, it would be the spark of new witch hunts and many supernaturals and humans would die.

Thank good humans never connected the dots. The werewolf in the woods goes somewhere when there's not a full moon, after all. Speaking of werewolves, Revy also found a few possible lycanthropes for offering to bite people and infect them with lycanthropy. He reported them, too. What he has discovered thus far is that this job was entirely just trolling and reporting people on the internet. It wasn't a bad gig, though he wondered if there would come a time when it would stop being fun.

Some jobs were more fun than others. Even Audrey, whose job was arguably more exciting had his moments. He took every break he was offered. One to check on and play with his dog, who was still in his apartment at the base while he was at work. At another, however, he sent out a few texts to his friends.

"Do you wanna hang out sometime?" he sent to Alois. "I need to talk to somebody."

"Yeah, sure, what's going on?" the demon replied, concerned at the wording at the message.

"Did I tell you that I was going on a date recently?"

"I heard about it."

"Well, it didn't turn out so good." Audrey stated. "Turns out that girl I met at the dog park was super racist. But not like, overtly racist. Y'know, the kind where it's super obvious that they hate asian people, but like… racist, but in a way that's supposed to be flattering?"

"Oh, like the 'asian people are all good at math and doctors' and stuff?" the menace inquired.

"Yeah, pretty much. She assumed I'm really into K-pop and wouldn't shut up about her favourite group the whole time. Then, she kept going on about how 'cute' I am and how I look like literally every member of the group. There's like eleven people in that group."

"Yikes." the demon actually winced at just reading that. "Because you know, all Asian people look alike, right?"

"Exactly. And I couldn't get a word in to ask her if she knew what she was saying, there."

"You're not even Korean!"

"Yep, but that's all she wanted to talk about. That, and how pretty she thinks Asian guys are. I told her, though, after she asked if I spoke any. I'm not bilingual at all."

"How'd she react to that?"

"Well, I told her that I'm part Chinese and Japanese on my mum's side, but then- get this, when I told her that I was only half east Asian, guess how she reacted?"

"Oh, God, no… She didn't..." the horrified Phantomhive answered back, already anticipating the answer.

"This bitch had the audacity to get disappointed when I told her that both my biological dad and my stepdad are white." the reaper said, still reeling from the shock of that moment. "She just gave me this really disapproving look and looked down at her food and ignored me for a bit. It was the quietest she'd been the whole time! Like? What the fuck? This racist-ass bitch thought she found a cute little K-pop husbando for her to play with. I'm sorry I'm not the toy you wanted to play with, but I can't exactly change!"

"What did you do?" questioned the blonde. "Did you leave?"

"No, I didn't know how to." Audrey confessed. "I hear girls just go to the bathroom and don't come back when they have a shitty date, but I didn't know if that would work, here, so I stayed. I didn't like it, though. It was so awkward the rest of the time, and then I still had to pay."

"Did you pay for the date?"

"Nah, man. And she wasn't happy about it, either. I told the waiter that we were paying separate because I wasn't paying for a shit date. I shouldn't have to. She wants me to be all sweet and petite, lil cinnamon roll and other infantising shit, and then she wants me to be a big manly man and pay for her food! She started glaring at me, all offended and shit. I'm offended, too! After I paid for my shit, I left. There was more than that that happened, but I'll save it for later. My break's almost up."

"Hang in there… I'm free except for Friday night, so if you wanna meet up to hang out, I can do it almost anytime." Alois said.

"Yeah… Hey, maybe we can go for sushi or something."

"I know your tricks, Audrey… You're just trying to get a bunch of white people to eat wasabi! You know the spiciest thing any of us has ever eaten is ketchup!" jested the menace.

"Damn! You saw through me! One of these days, I'll get your Aryan-ideal self… and your little dog, too!"

"Oh… Wow… Isn't saying that kind of appropriation of green culture?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." the reaper jokingly conceded. Alois started to type, but then Audrey added: "It's not easy, being green..."

"Get back to work, Mister Baines."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"I know Lieutenant Chu's number."

"Fuck you."

"You can at least offer to buy me dinner, first."

"I have Ciel's number." Audrey reminded. "I'm gonna tell."

"Whatever, hetero. As if you have a chance with me." the other man replied. "You have to have a decent scowl and at least thirteen scars to be my type. If you don't look like a Bond villain, you need to keep moving."

"Ciel has thirteen scars?"

"More than that, but that's only his and my business."

"Whatever, mate. I'm gonna go research these dumbasses on this list." the reaper said.

"Have fun. Feel free to divulge more matters of national security to me whenever."

"Like I would be dumb enough to do that via text..."

Alois chuckled to himself as he put his phone down, leaving his friend to do his work. He did not envy him. The menace was lucky he didn't have to deal with dating or any "racist-ass bitches," though he did contemplate the prior at times. That isn't to say that he wished to cheat on his spouse or ever leave him. He loved Ciel. It was just a strange hypothetical "what if" sort of thought, since he had never had to go through the trials of meeting potential romantic partners before. He also had never dealt with casual racism, either, whether it was overt in nature or in the form of a "compliment." Truthfully, he didn't want to find out, although he did sympathise with Audrey.

"What must that chick be like when not on dates?" he thought to himself. "Probably wastes a lot of time gushing over Asian pop stars like they're not real people. She made that kind of obvious, actually… Wait, is she related to those girls who act all weird about gay guys?

The menace shuddered at the thought and wished to utter a small prayer for all of the gay, Asian men in the world who had to cope with this nonsense. Sadly, he was a demon and although he was the Saint of Scoundrels, that didn't help the situation any. Eventually, however, his thoughts began to wander further away.

"Jesus was probably gay- Hanging out with all of those dudes… I see you, mate… Gay-ass hippie..."

"Did you say something, Master Jim?" questioned Sebastian, arching an eyebrow while dusting shelves. He did actually hear the menace, but the suddenness and strangeness of what Alois said had caught him off-guard.

"...Nothing." Alois unconvincingly stated as his face reddened. "Just dust the shelves, shelf-duster."

"Alright." Sebastian said, shaking his head. "Good to see you're acting more like a master."

"I can pretend to be snooty when I want to. I just can only do it in short bouts."

"I see that." the butler replied with a smile on his face as he continued to work. "Most masters don't lounge around in pyjama pants and play on their phones."

"Maybe not in the 1800s, but how many masters have you had in the 21st century?" inquired the menace.

"Most masters also don't question things."

"And that is precisely why the aristocracy in England is dying out. They aren't creative and expect things to always be the way things were, so they don't try to adapt or survive. Nobles could stand to be a little more relaxed. If they don't, there won't be any more nobles anymore." Alois let out a laugh as he said this, but then paused. After thinking for a moment, he added: "Then again, that might not be such a bad idea..."

"Sir, you will make a good number of people very upset if you go around saying that."

"That's because people can't stand truth when it stares them in the face. I won't say nothin' in front of 'em as long as they play nice with me."

"What if they don't?"

"Then I will laugh as it rains rich twit tears." With that, Alois stood up and started walking around the couch he was lounging on to start heading to the kitchen. "I'm going to get some tea. Do you want anything?"

"I'm not a fan of regular human food." Sebastian said. "I will be more than happy to get bring you some tea. There is no need for you to get up."

"Yeah, but what if I decide I want some biscuits, too? Or what if I see something even more delicious in the kitchen that I didn't know I wanted until I went in there? I could be missing out? Or there's nothing there and I'm not, but I'll never know if I don't go."

Nodding, Sebastian slowly turned around to face the menace and spoke up to catch him before he left. "Master Jim?"

"Yes?" the blonde answered, stopping in the doorway and looking over his shoulder at him.

"May I have permission to speak freely?" questioned the butler.

"Sure."

"You are perhaps the strangest master I have ever met."

"As long as it's the change is pleasant, I can take no offense to that." the menace said before making his exit, having decided that it is within his best interests to go elsewhere in search of snacks.

He had many things on his mind, like what was the hype about K-pop and which Pomeroy he should target next. Then there was thoughts of whether or not he should go or wanted to go to the HELLSING Boot Camp graduation. He didn't have to, but he knew that his husband was immensely proud of his men and that it would be nice of him to go. Alois did wonder whatever happened to that cadet who caught Ciel with his hand on the blonde's left lower-cheek. The Watchdog did put on a good show of scolding the private, but Alois didn't think the younger man suffered any real consequences for it.

He rested his elbows on the counter and fiddled with his phone as he waited for the water to get hot. There were no calls from Phantom House, so he was a bit relieved at that. At the same time, however, he was still concerned. He knew how the system worked, but he didn't know the day-to-day aspect of it. Whatever they were doing, he hoped that they were alright. He didn't expect them to call him with updates or anything, nor did he especially know anything about them, but he couldn't help himself.

In reality, they were faring fine, even though it took them some time to get a few decent pairs of clothes to wear. To solve that problem, Lilian volunteered to do some work around Phantom House in order to earn some money to buy some in Gehenna. She swept and mopped floors, cleaned up, and essentially did any odd job she could. Strangely, she found it oddly rewarding, despite hating cleaning around her parents' house, but maybe it had to do with the fact that she actually liked where she was living. On the same day she decided to finally muster up the courage to go to Gehenna for the first time, her friend Sierra was going to be picked up by her parents and taken home. It was the first time since being there that Lilian dropped what she was working on. She had to say "goodbye."

"I'm gonna miss you." she said, grunting as she squeezed the younger girl in a big hug.

"I'm gonna miss you, too." Sierra replied. Her eyes were watering, both from leaving her friends and from the relief of being able to go back home. Mostly the latter, however. She wasn't going to remain friends with a few of them. In particular, Brittany, who didn't even bother to see her off.

Pulling away, Lilian picked up her friend's bag and handed it to her. "You got your book, right? Double check."

"I remember packing it..." the other girl trailed off, peering into the bag before nodding. "Yeah. It's there. That's the one thing I can't leave here without! My parents are gonna have to read it when we get home."

"I hear they have more like it in Gehenna, if you ever wanna go."

"Thanks, but I think it'll be a while before I do that… I kinda wanna figure out some stuff before I do anything else supernatural-wise..."

"Fair enough." Patting Sierra's shoulder, Lilian smiled. "Be seein' you around, then."

"You too." the younger said, turning to walk out the door with her parents. "Bye!"

"Bye!" Lilian waved, followed by the others in a chain of "goodbyes." She was sad to watch her go, but glad she seemed like she was going to be alright. That just left herself to worry about, along with the remainder of her friends who wanted her fussing over them.

For the most part, it seemed that they didn't, as they drifted apart immediately upon entering the building for the first time. The two boys still hung around Brittany sometimes, but they seemed to be questioning her leadership as of late. Lilian herself had hardly spoken to her, but knew that she was taking all of this remarkably well, save for the part where her followers aren't spending as much time with her as they used to.

That afternoon, they all went to the common room, where everyone else who was about to go to Gehenna for the first time were gathered. Most people there looked predominantly human, as mostly vampires and werewolves populated the building. There were others, however, even if they looked human, but not quite. The elves were the most obvious. The English elves had long, pointed ears and white hair, while the Scandinavian elves sometimes could be spotted with tails. It was strange knowing that no one in that room was human, causing a mix of excitement and even fear. Lilian was careful to remind herself that she belonged there and that no harm would come to her. After all, she, too, was a supernatural being, even though she didn't look like it until the full moon.

"Is anyone sitting here?" asked a voice coming from beside her, pulling her from her thoughts. Looking up, she saw a young man looking down at her, indicating to the seat on the sofa beside her.

"No, you're fine. Go ahead." she replied, making a bit more room for him. He didn't look like the sort of person who usually talked to her. He looked like the sort of person who was "popular" at school and he obviously liked things like sports, as evident by his footballer's jersey.

Sitting down, the man nodded and said "Thanks." before scooting over himself as to give her more room as well. He was quiet for a few minutes, making Lilian believe that she was being ignored or avoided, especially given his body language, but eventually, he did speak up. "I'm sorry, uhm… This might be a weird question, but… I don't smell, do I?"

"What?" the girl questioned, arching her eyebrow at the question. "I mean… Maybe a little herby, but not, like, bad or anything, I guess?"

"Okay, good." sighed the lad in relief while relaxing a bit. "I don't know if you're a werewolf and have a good sense of smell, or if I just put on too much shade gel. It's hard to tell, either way."

"I'm a werewolf, yeah. I think you smell fine. Don't worry about it."

"Cool. Vampire." he said, gesturing to himself. "My name's Josh."

"Lilian." she nodded back. Now that she thought about it, he did have some sort of strange teeth. "Isn't it a bit early for you to be up?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to go to Gehenna. If I go early, I can spend the whole night, if I want to."

"I don't know if I want to do that, but I'll stick around for as long as I can." Lilian said, but then she didn't really know where to take the conversation, so she stalled. "So..." she began, pausing to think for a moment. "How long have you been here?"

"Couple weeks." Josh replied. "Totally randomly stumbled on this place a few days after I was bitten while wandering around. I was, uh… Well, I was hungry and not in the best frame of mind… I'm glad they stopped me before I hurt anybody."

"I've been here a few days. I was found in the woods with my friends behind a guy who knew this place's house. It's a long story."

"I think everybody has a long story, here… Mine's kinda short, though. Kinda typical, I think. I was out jogging one night and was attacked. Next thing I know, I can't eat regular food anymore and the I get the worst sunburns!"

"Ooh… Yeah… That sucks."

"Literally."

"Pfft! Yeah… Literally… I don't have a lot of symptoms yet. I haven't even transformed for the first time, yet!"

"Ouch… Yeah, they might take you out back for your first time." the man said. "I hear it hurts really bad and people scream, so they try to get you some place more comfortable."

"Yeah, I had that talk already. Not looking forward to it, if I'm honest." Lilian sighed. "It's kind of ironic, because eagerness got me into this mess."

"How so?"

"Well… It's not nice to talk shit about people, but..." she trailed off for a moment before pointing over to Brittany, who was sitting elsewhere in the room talking to other people. "You see that girl over there?"

"Yeah?"

"She's the one who bit me." the girl said before lowering her finger so that she wouldn't be noticed by her ex-friend. "She met this guy online and paid him like seventy pounds to bite her, and then the next month, she drags us out to the woods to show us. And I mean, yeah, we've always talked about how werewolves were really cool and we had this like, little club for it and nicknames and everything, but… When the real life thing is right in front of you, it changes things, y'know? Still, she bit me, anyway."

"Did you run?"

"Hell yeah, I ran! I didn't even think about it! I just ran! Turns out, werewolves are very fast. Did you know that?"

"I could've guessed" Josh chuckled, but then his face turned more sympathetic. "It sounds like you had it rough."

"That's not even the worst of it." she scoffed before shaking her head. "To rub salt in the wound, she told us to take off our clothes so they didn't tear when we changed, only… We never did and then we lost our clothes in the dark and wound up wandering the woods mostly naked."

"Jesus Christ… Wait, didn't you say you were found around some guy's house?"

"Yeah. We planned on waiting until dark and breaking in to steal some clothes and money to get back home, but he just gave us something to wear and hooked us up with this place. Everything turned out okay, I guess, but I'm still pissed off."

"I would be, too. You didn't get a choice in it. In a way, it's kind of worse because she was your friend."

"I don't know what she was thinking..." Lilian slouched, leaning back into her seat. "She's gotten worse…"

"How so?"

"Try asking her why she did all of this sometime. You'll immediately know why."

"If you say so." Josh replied, somewhat frightened of what he would find, but now somewhat curious.

He would have to figure it out later, however, as Wink walked into the room with her authoritative presence and demanded everyone's attention. She had on a coat to combat the coldness of rapidly approaching winter, making Lilian somewhat nervous, as she hadn't anything of the sort. They were going to be walking a while once they got there, so she desperately hoped that there was something warm she could wear that was also affordable at the store, there.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" Wink commanded, clapping her hands before placing them on her hips. "The bus is here and waiting! You're all free to come back when you want, but you need to pay attention to the bus schedule if you wanna come back at all. If you lose it, you can get another one at the Town Welfare Center. Remember to be on your best behaviour and don't piss off the locals. You got that?"

There was a bit of mumbling, but no real response. Furrowing her brow, the former commander of the Prudentia raised her voice. "I said, 'you got that?!'"

"Yes ma'am!" everyone said in and out of unison, having been startled by the woman.

"Good! Get your asses over there! Let's move!" Somehow, she was able to scare the entire room into fleeing out to the bus. In truth, she, herself, was not too terribly keen on this trip. All she could think about were all of the ways it could go wrong. Inevitably, a few of those things were going to happen and there was realistically nothing she could do about them but deal with them when they did.


A/N: Honestly, I could have lengthened this because I'm just gonna pick back up on it next time, but I wanted to update now instead of later because I'm like that.

Also we hit 1,000 chapters in the series a few chapters ago. I forgot to say something, then. And last time... This is chapter 1,002 of the series. Isn't that wild?

I need to go outside.

Anyways... What's exciting to you guys at the moment? I'm trying my best to set up as many flags as I can and knowing will help me figure out which ones to pick up on.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!