They reached the bank without any trouble. The street in front was littered with broken cars, that wasn't really a problem, as no cars worked anyways. The sidewalk were empty, but her group avoided them. It was to open, instead they moved between the cars. Lexa still wasn't sure about handing the guy over. She looked over to Cassie, who shook her head. “You saw how the guy was acting Lexa. He's crazy, if we didn't get him he would probably just get killed some other way. If we don't bring in a sacrifice, it will be one of us.”

“But what are we going to do? I can't live my life sacrificing people, at least not personally.”

“We just need to hold on. I'll work something out.”

Lexa wasn't convinced that Cassandra, the girl with amnesia, was the best person to rely on. They entered the bank, it was four stories, but most of it was the huge lobby. Most of the gang was hanging out there, and the leader Sariel noticed them arive with the captive.

“EXCELLENT WORK!” He said. His voice was unnaturally loud, even though he clearly wasn't shouting, and it echoed off the walls. “YOU HAVE EARNED YOURSELF ANOTHER DAY!” With a wave of his hand, an amber light flared. Her jelly bracelet glowed to match. “BRING HIM TO PLEIADES, IT IS HUNGRY, AND I AM EAGER TO LEARN IF THIS MAN HAS AN HONEST BONE IN HIS BODY!” Sariel had wandered closer, and it hurt to hear him speak from so close.

“Could you talk quieter?” Lexa snapped. She was fed up with everything, and this was the last straw. She would not have some anorexic Daniel Radcliffe bitch, magically shouting right in her face.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Sariel replied.

“I SAID TO SHUT UP, OR CAN'T YOU HEAR ANTTHING?!” Lexa screamed at him, now completely losing her shit.

“Bitch stop, you're gonna get us killed!” The gangster guy yelled.

She wheeled on the guy, and hit him with her taser. She jabbed him in the gut, and held the button. Sariel seemed amused, and watched the proceedings. Eventually the taser ran out of juice, and the gangster collapsed.

“THIS WAS-” Sariel started, but Lexa was beyond done with it all. She spun on her heel, and hit Sariel with the taser. It was out of electricity, and she knew that. So it was with all her momentum she bashed it into the Sariel's head.

Sariel dropped bonelessly to the ground. Lexa started kicking at him, venting her frustrations with a flurry of swears. Cassie and the married couple stood by in shock. The high ranking members of the gang swarmed towards them. Someone tackled Lexa, and dragged her toward an office. She was tossed in there, and the door locked.

She cried for a while, upset at everything. Hours passed, and she started to feel a bit better. At least she wasn't so angry now. All those lessons about anger management, had only really raised the maximum amount of rage she could hold. That had been fine when life was okay, she had ways to destress. Now it seemed she exploded with even more force. Eventually Cassandra came around, and sat next to her. “Sariel died,” she informed.

“Oh my God, I killed someone.” That sent Lexa into another fit of crying. She pulled herself together. “At least he was an asshole.”

“The gang isn't sure what to do. All of them were forced to get bound to Pleiades. Without Sariel, there is no one to stop the bracelets from eating all of us. Mitch is hoping feeding it will keep it calm, but it won't work. It is the Pleiades nature to consume.” She shook her wrist showing the bracelets. “These only don't eat us because of Sariel's spell. When it runs out, that it.”

“For an angel he went down pretty easy,” Lexa complained. She hadn't meant to kill him, not really. Lexa had anger issues, it was why she wasn't allowed to drive anymore. Her therapist had thought they had gotten it under control. Clearly that was only in normal circumstances.

“I'm not sure how it worked. He might have been crazy. I think whatever magic he had was eating him from the inside. That's why he went down so easy. The gangs split into two factions, one thinks we should just keep feeding it. The second want to find a wizard, or anyone who could stop the bracelets. They are planning on sending out teams to some other known,” Cassie paused looking for the right word. “Entities, to bargain. It's why they haven't killed you. They want our team to go to the subway.”

“Is that dangerous?” Lexa asked.

“Crazy artists live there. Rumour is the gates to the underworld where those corrupted live, can be reached from the subway. They're all looking for it.”

“And we're just supposed to ask one if they want to be our new boss?”

“We don't have much of a choice.” Cassie answered, shrugging.

Cassie left so she could compose herself. Lexa redid her makeup, and stared at the jelly bracelet. It didn't seem to care that Sariel was dead. Really it was Sariel's own fault for having such a lousy defence. All that had stopped anyone from killing the guy was their own inevitable death. It seemed like such an insane thing, to expect everyone to act rationally after all this. It had been bound to happen. Long-term someone would have killed him, so wasn't really her fault.

Since her teams bracelets had been sated just before his death, Lexa figured, of the entire gang, they would be the last to go. It was little comfort, since she would see everyone else suffer horrible death. That was of course assuming the bracelets actually did anything. Sure the thing nipped at her, but how would a little thing like it eat her. All of it might be bluff by Sariel. How good of a wizard could he really had been? She had killed him after all, and his flaming hands from the ground weren't even hot. She was excited to tell Cassie her idea.

Cassie was not impressed. She was sure the bracelets were the real deal, and had heard others in the gang had witnessed the effectiveness. Thankfully she spared any details, as Lexa had just fixed her makeup, and was starting to run low. Unfortunately she had other bad news. The married couple had run off in the confusion. The gangster refused to work with her, and had joined a different team. To compensate they had been given the crazy guy they had caught.

The guy stood there silently, twitching his head side to side. It wasn't like he had any reason to help them, he didn't even have a jelly bracelet. “Follow us,” Cassie ordered, and the guy listened falling into step behind them. Lexa was a little freaked out having the guy behind her, but didn't want to make a scene. She figured she had reached the limit for making scenes.

They came to a subway entrance, but lingered not wanting to go in. It was pitch black, not even any emergency lights. Her imagination filled the yawning pit with every horror, and she started to think she could see wretched shapes shifting about in the darkness.

“How about we get some brunch first?” She suggested. No one had bothered to bring her food after her murdering, and she was hungry.

“I guess, what do you want to eat?”

“There were a few restaurants back there, maybe we could find some food,” Lexa suggested.

“I eat,” The crazy guy said quietly.

They scavenged a dozen eggs, some stale bread, and a sealed can of caviar. Cassie managed to get the gas stove lit, and started to cook something. That left Lexa with the crazy guy. “So what is your name?” She asked, sitting down at a table. The man looked panicked for a moment, then sat across from her.

“Name?”

“My name is Alexandria, but you can call me Lexa.” Small talk seemed like the only thing to do. Any big questions might set him off. Even asking him his name seemed too much.

“Name... Black, silver trim, striations of red.” The guy sat there for a minute, pressing his palms against the table. “Derrick.”

“Well Derrick, your nails are in terrible shape. Can I fix them?”

“Fix Derrick?” He paused again ,then nodded. Lexa got some water, and washed the blood of his hands first. The nails were ragged, and she fished in her purse for her manicure set. It was strangely relaxing to work on the nails. She had grasped some piece of her old life. She chatted with Derrick, talking about nothing important. Whether he had any pets as a kid, or what his favorite song was.

As they talked Derrick's responded more, slowly coming out of the madness that had consumed him. When she had all his nails smooth and neat, he seemed almost normal. “I- don't remember much,” he admitted. “Even my real memories seem hazy now, made less real from the insanity. It's like I can't be sure if it really happened, I can't trust my mind anymore. Some creature, did something to me.” He traced the clawmarks on his face. “I can see things now, auras around a person. It's terrible, that's why I tried to claw my eyes out.”

Lexa put a comforting hand on his.”It's okay, you're safe here.” Derrick seemed a huge improvement over gangster guy. So it a good thing they hadn't sacrificed him. Once again, Lexa's justified her rage killing.

“Your aura is nice, smooth and warm, I think that's what helped pull me out. Peoples auras aren't the problem, the things, demons in the sky, that man in the bank.”

Cassie set down three plates on the table. She had made french toast, topped with caviar. It was the best food Lexa had eaten in a while. “You don't have to come with us,” Cassie told him. “You could walk away. We are heading to where wretched people are supposed to congregate. They gather in hopes of becoming true monsters.”

“I can't leave. I owe my sanity to you two, I will help you. Maybe with my sight we can pick out one who could be trusted.”

“Thanks Derrick,” Lexa squeezed his hand.

They finished eating, and Cassie went back to the kitchen. She made a torch from a table leg, and an oil-soaked dishrag. “Now we will have some light in the subway.

The torch illuminated the subway, and they slowly walked down the stairs. “There's someone ahead. Black, red spikes, brown shell.”

“That doesn't sound pretty. Let's ignore them,” Lexa suggested. They stayed quiet, and pressed against opposite wall. What Lexa could see of the guy through the shadows was enough to convince her Sariel hadn't been so bad. He was grotesquely carved, in a way he couldn't possibly done to himself.

They moved as fast as they could without making any more noise. A few more people lurked in the station. Derrick whispered what each of their aura's looked like. None had a hint of pleasantness so they avoided them. They looked at the rails, and figured the only thing to do was walk along the tunnel. “How do we know the trains aren't running?” Lexa asked.

“That's crazy,” Derrick dismissed. “How would they still be running? There isn't any power in the station.”

“The worlds crazy, if you haven't noticed,” She argued. Derrick himself had been crazy an hour ago.

“Look you can see light on our left,” Derrick pointed out. “The people we're looking for are probably living there.” He jumped down, and made a show of touching each of the rails. “See there isn't any power.”

“Is the light getting closer?” Cassie asked. Her and Lexa stared at the light, as it slowly grew brighter. It was strangely hypnotic, the color shifting psychedelically. It reminded Lexa of the only time she had tried acid. The recalled bad trip caused her to shudder, and broke the spell. The light had gotten a lot closer, and she could hear the whooshing noise of the wind as it approached. “Shit, Derrick get off the track!” She yelled. Derrick didn't react, still entranced by the light. Lexa jumped down, and grabbed him by the shoulder. As she pulled him, he started awake. He looked around confused, and she yelled for him to get off the track.

The train screeched as slowed, and they had just enough time to scramble back up to safety. Lexa laid there panting, as the subway train came to a halt with a loud hiss of air-brakes. The doors opened, and a uniformed man wearing a turban, stood looking down at the three of them. “Are you entering? Or do you wish to retrieve a passenger?” He asked, speaking with a British accent.

“Is this the subway?” Lexa asked.

“We are the California line. Our destination is all forms of reality. Are you a passenger, or do you wish to call for someone?

“We don't have any tickets,” Lexa said.

“You may enter freely, but you can only leave when requested by someone off the train. It is recommended to arrange your affairs before embarking with us. You can only ride once, or request a single person.”

“Are there any magic people, or things riding currently?” Derrick asked.

“I would say quite a fair few, many make deals with beings, and become trapped when it is renegged.”

“Okay. I'll go on, find someone, then Alexandria requests me. Then I'll tell Cassandra who to ask for.”

“That sound good, but you don't a have a bracelet. You can't show them what they need to do. It should be me or Lexa,” Cassie argued.

“I'll go, this is my fault anyways,” Lexa resolved. She stepped past the doorman, and into the train. She knew if she talked about, she would get convinced not to. To prevent that she had gone immediately. The door hissed and closed behind her. She swallowed nervously, and looked at the other passengers.