Scotia turned from the burnt doorway when Mira told her to go on. She ran down the hall until she met up with Jamie and Damir. Damir was still hacking into the facility's systems. “Damn that phoenix,” Scotia murmured. “We need her in here.”

“What’s wrong? Something going on outside?” asked Jamie.

“I think another phoenix just showed up,” said Scotia.

“Isn’t that a good thing,” said Damir. “Another phoenix would be here to help us, right? Probably one of Mira’s kin?”

Scotia shook her head. “I don’t think that’s the case. The tone in Mira’s voice...I don’t think he was a friend.”

Damir glanced back to Scotia and then to the lift, as the doors opened. “Well the lift is here. I have it set to return and work for all users, so it’ll be available to Mira as long as there’s power. But we can’t stall here.”

Scotia nodded and entered the lift, her weapon ready. Jamie and Damir joined her. The lift was sizeable, allowing for a decent amount of freight to come down into the facility. From what Scotia could tell, the facility only utilized the one lift. It wasn’t uncommon for a compound to be constructed with minimal effort to save both money and time.

Jamie slowly took in a deep breath. He did his best to mentally prepare himself for the fight to come. Scotia reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“Sorry that our night had to be delayed,” she said to Jamie. “Let’s make quick work of this job and find ourselves a nice place to lay low for a couple days.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Damir spoke up, before Jamie could even comment.

Scotia glared at him. “You’re not invited to our private time!”

Damir chuckled to himself.

Jamie squeezed Scotia’s hand. “Try not to do anything reckless down there,” he said.

Scotia’s lips parted in a fanged grin. “Aww, but I like to show off for you,” she said as she pulled away.

“Ten seconds,” said Damir. He gripped his pistol and moved beside Jamie, at the left side of the doorway, while Scotia took cover on the right. “Three,” he said as the lift noticeably slowed. Damir mouthed the last few numbers and the lift opened up.

The group steeled themselves for the volley of fire which was sure to engulf the lift.

But the only sound, was the dull hum of the lift.

Jamie swallowed and looked to Scotia, as they remained hidden within the lift. He then began to mouth, three, two, one. Scotia and Jamie brought their weapons up and aimed down the hallway, their fingers tense on the triggers. But instead of a hallway full of armed guards, there were only dull white walls with interspersed minimalistic lighting.

Damir stepped aside and looked down the hall. “That’s weird,” he whispered. “They have to know we’re here.”

Damir took point and walked quietly down the hall. There was a junction up ahead which led left and right. But the far wall held a set of blue double doors. His boots were nearly silent on the floor. His red eyes kept a vigilant watch on the end of the hall, with weapon raised.

Scotia and Jamie were in step behind him, on either side of the hall.

“I smell blood,” said Scotia.

Damir was the first to reach the end of the passageway, and quickly checked both sides. “I smell it now too,” he said. There was a white door to the left, and a glossy black door to the right. “Those doors might lead to more rooms or even other halls.”

Scotia glanced down both side-halls, before nearing the blue double-doors before them.

Jamie kept an eye on one of the halls, then looked to Scotia and the blue doors. “Is it coming from in there?” he asked.

“Sure is,” Scotia murmured. She saw a handle on each door and wrapped her fingers around one of them. “I don’t like this,” she whispered. She looked to Jamie. “I’ll open, you and Damir rush inside.”

Jamie nodded and moved into position. Damir waited beside him. Scotia held her revolver up, and extended three fingers. One by one she closed those fingers around the revolver’s grip. The last finger curled and her countdown ended. She gripped the door tightly and pulled it open. Jamie rushed in first with Damir on his heels.

A scream pierced the air. Then a loud snap, like the cracking of bone from a joint.

Jamie stopped several feet into the large room. Blood was spattered on tables and desks. Chairs were strewn around. Glass fragments littered the floor.

Another crack, followed by a shrill scream.

Jamie looked around the room. It was huge. There were machines the size of transports as well as conveyor belts and crates. He trained his gun in the direction of the last scream which came from a separate direction than the first.

Damir was by his side, looking for targets, but there was no visible movement. The lighting was bright, even if some of the lights had been busted in several of the areas around the room.

“The smell is definitely coming from in here. Tt smells like more than what’s on the walls,” Scotia whispered from behind them.

“Fan out?” asked Jamie.

“No, stick together,” she ordered. “Where are all the scientists? Did someone get here before us? Mira didn’t say anything about—”

A dark object flew from behind one of the desks to the right. They each aimed at it, prepared to fire. But when it landed several feet in front of Jamie, it did so with a wet thud. Blood pooled from the base of the discarded torn-off leg.

“Are you hungry?” came a low guttural voice. A figure rose up from behind the table the appendage had come from. It was a human man, but his eyes were dark pits and his black hair a matted mess. His mouth was dark crimson with streaks of red running down his neck. The red lines soaked into an orange prison uniform jumper. “Go ahead, I’ll share!” he cackled.

“Why bother feeding the new meat?” came another voice from the far left. Another figure rose from behind a table with a streak of red liquid across it. “They won’t have time to fatten before we can eat them!”

Jamie aimed at the first figure. His eyes were wide.

“I think they’re possessed,” said Damir. “I think they’re gluttons. Are these the demons we’re after?”

Scotia came forward between her subordinates as more figures rose up from behind crates and machines, hidden in the shadows.

“Mira said there’d only be one!” she trained her revolver on the nearest gore-drenched figure.

“Mira!” One of them screamed.

“Mira sent them!” yelled another.

“We will feast on the phoenix’s servants!” came a bellowing roar from a massive ursari, dressed in the same prison garb.

A shot barked from Scotia’s revolver, tearing the demonic-ursari’s head clean off. The miniature explosion glowed a brilliant blue before dissipating in an instant.

A multitude of shrieks rang out from the gaping maws of the others.

“Kill them all!” Scotia ordered.

Jamie and Damir began firing at the closest of them. The demons were now moving with a sense of urgency as their kin were dying around them.

Jamie’s heart raced as he backed up to the door. His eyes were narrowed slits as he focused on bringing the closest ones down first. He aimed for their heads, but even when missing pieces of their skull and brain, the demonic prisoners kept coming towards them.

“Jamie!” called Damir. “Slow them down! Let Scotia finish them!”

Jamie remembered what Noree had said about the ammunition she gave to Scotia. He began to aim at knees and feet, as the demons revealed themselves. Scotia’s revolver continued to bark as her weapon tore holes through the demon’s faces and chests. She found that a single blow to the chest would stop them in their tracks. Her past experience with demons, had never gone so smoothly.

“Reloading!” called Jamie.

“Damnit,” Damir murmured as he picked up Jamie’s slack.

Scotia stepped closer to cover Jamie. She wouldn’t let any of them through.

“I’m good!” Jamie called as he continued tearing out the demon’s knees with well-placed shots.

Scotia aimed at the last prisoner which Jamie had just felled. She took careful aim at the center of the man’s chest and pulled the trigger. A quick burst of blue light, put an end to the demon’s existence, permanently.

Jamie breathed heavily as he scanned the room for threats. Damir was doing the same but his eyes were more suited for the darkness. Scotia was encompassed by the smell of blood, from dozens of sources. She checked her revolver. She had one cartridge left which meant three shots. She pulled normal cartridges from her belt, and began loading them into the open cylinders.

Damir unloaded his pistol and slotted in a new magazine as he carefully branched out and began checking behind crates and desks for demonic survivors.

Jamie’s back pressed against the wall beside the doors they’d come through. His heart was racing. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked to Scotia. They’d made quick work of the demons.

“How many of the special shots do you have left?” he called to her.

“Three, but I have plenty of the regular ones,” she answered as she turned.

“Weren’t we just supposed to—” his words cut out.

Just as Scotia was looking back to Jamie, a black hand tore through Jamie’s chest from the other side of the wall.

Scotia’s eyes went wide as her heart skipped a beat. “Jamie!” she screamed as the black fist pulled back to the other side of the wall. Jamie’s eyes went blank as his body slumped to the floor.

Scotia couldn’t think. She dashed towards Jamie’s limp body.

The doors to the room crashed inwards as they were torn from the frame. Scotia came to an abrupt halt as a new threat revealed itself. A creature lowered its torso and pulled into the room. It was easily twice the size of the large ursari she’d killed minutes before. The creature had sleek black skin which seemed almost chitinous. A pair of gray horns protruded from its skull. Its mouth was full of fangs five times the size of her own.

She knew at once, that this abomination had to be a demon. Its tail lashed against the stone wall and broke fragments from it. Scotia couldn’t even see its eyes, but the creature’s head turned from side to side.

“They’re all dead?” he growled.

Scotia brought her revolver to bear. She didn’t care what this creature was, she would make it pay! She pulled the trigger repeatedly on her firearm.

The demon was quicker than it appeared. Its arm swooped down and pulled the unhinged door into the air. The impacts of her explosive rounds blew holes in the door. But after three blue explosions, the color turned to orange as she expelled the last of the special munitions.

Damir saw an opening and loosed a volley of fire from the other side of the room. His bullets smacked useless against the demon’s hard skin.

With a sinister laugh, the demon tore the door in half and threw part of it at Damir. The verean wasn’t expecting a ranged attack from the beast. He threw himself to the side, but the sharp metal edge of the door caught his arm. Blood gushed as Damir screamed and fell out of sight of Scotia. All Scotia could hear was his groans as the demon focused and hurled the other half of the door at her.

Unlike Damir, she’d had a brief chance to stop firing and managed to dodge behind a desk. In the blink of an eye, the door flew by where she’d just been standing. She quickly righted herself and pulled off a single shot. The explosion was nearly point-blank as the monstrous demon had closed the distance on her in the span of seconds. She didn’t even have time to tell if she’d wounded the demon at all, before he ripped the table from between them and sent it flying across the room. The corner of the table swept past and caught her revolver, knocking it from her hands.

She stood there, staring up at the monster. This close, she could finally see its pitch-black eyes as they gazed down at her. It’s maw curled in what she could only imagine to be a smirk.

“Do you think you can kill me so easily? Like you did these inferior creatures around you? I’m Dumora The Thresher!” He bellowed above her. “And now it’s time for me to remember what sharva meat tastes like! Don’t worry, I’ll keep you alive, so that you know just how much I enjoy eating your kind.”

A beam of pure fire engulfed the thresher’s head. Scotia winced and brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the intense light. When the light dissipated, she scrambled back as the demon collapsed towards her. She looked past the headless demon and saw Mira at the door, with her arms outstretched.

Mira smiled when she saw that Scotia wasn’t hurt. Her arms lowered. “Seems I have a thing for blowing off people’s—”

Something caught her attention in the corner of her eye. She looked to her left, and saw Jamie laying on the floor. She was...too late?

She looked to Scotia. “Where’s Damir?”

A groan emanated from behind a table and Mira looked around, before running towards the sound. Mira found the wounded verean laying on the floor. His arm was severed from his shoulder and he was bleeding out.

Mira knelt by him. “Can you hear me?” she asked as she tried to see if he had any other injuries.

“Yeah,” he said through gritted teeth. “How’s Scotia?” his eyes weren’t even open. All he could do was wince from the pain.

“She’s fine,” said Mira. “I’m going to stop the bleeding. It’s going to—”

“Do it!” he yelled.

Mira’s eyes narrowed with focus. She placed her palm against his bleeding shoulder. She caused an instant flash of heat at her palm. Damir yelled out again in pain as she cauterized the wound. The sudden smell of burnt flesh reached Mira’s nose and the memories of Luca poured into her mind. Of how she killed her friend, of his burning flesh and how she couldn’t save him.

Mira didn’t realize how much time had passed until a hand closed against her shoulder. The phoenix looked up and saw Scotia’s stern face. The contact had pulled Mira from those terrible memories. She looked back down to Damir. He was unconscious, but breathing.

“Don’t break on me now,” said Scotia in a low voice. She squeezed Mira’s shoulder. “Can you carry him out?”

Mira nodded and pulled Damir up and hoisted him over her shoulder. She wasn’t incredibly strong, but verean’s were lighter than humans. She stood and finally took account of the room. There were corpses everywhere.

“You killed that demon, Dumora, he was our target?” asked Scotia as she headed towards Jamie.

Mira looked to her, but couldn’t see the woman’s face. “If that was Dumora, then we’re done here. This seems to have been their lab and without the thresher, they can’t make more of the drug.” Mira scanned the lab. There were headless bodies in prisoner garb, alongside chewed-on remains of scientists and other lab workers. But...what happened in here? She wondered. She looked to Scotia, about to ask. But her words never left her lips as she watched the sharva approach her fallen comrade.

Scotia knelt beside Jamie. She took one glance to his chest and never looked at it again. Her gaze found his face. She reached up and closed his eyes for the last time. The backs of her fingers brushed his soft and still-warm cheek.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I couldn’t protect you. I was foolish for thinking I could. I never deserved to be your Captain. I never deserved you. Thank you,” she took in a slow breath. “Goodbye, my love.”

Scotia reached up and made the required selections to detach and remove Jamie’s data-band. She brought it to her wrist and connected it beside her own. She closed her eyes and stood. She turned to the door and walked through it. She wanted her last view of Jamie to be as pristine as it could be. Her eyes opened and she turned her head slightly to regard Mira. “I won’t leave his body here to be used for some infernal purpose. Please...can you send him on his way?”

Mira stood within the lab and nodded at Scotia’s request. With her left arm, she held the verean, and with her right, she extended it towards Jamie. She looked to the young man briefly. He gave his life for her mission. Scotia, Damir, Jamie. They all owed her nothing and now she was incredibly in their debt. One of which, she could never repay.

Flames erupted from her palm and engulfed Jamie’s form. It took only seconds, before nothing remained but ash. Mira swiped her arm around and cast flames across the floor and over the tables. The flames enveloped the slain demons and facility workers, as well as the carcass of the thresher. Once the entire room was bathed in flame, she headed towards the door to join Scotia in the hall.

Scotia stood in the hall, waiting for Mira. She glanced down the hall and looked to the white door on the left, then turned her head and looked to the white door on the right.

Mira passed her. “We’re done here, let’s get out before reinforcements arrive,” she said as she headed down the long hall to the lift.

Scotia nodded and fell into step beside her.