Twenty minutes later, Derek and I were pulling up in front of the apartment complex. The building was six stories high, and from what Derek was telling me on the ride over, Rick’s apartment was on the third floor. We had come to an understanding that we had to be quiet, mostly because we did not know if they were the only family taken over or if many apartments held demons within them.

“Alright, we're here, ready?” I asked Derek

“Ready then i'll ever be” He responded with a grin

I rolled my eyes before opening my car door and head towards the trunk. Grabbing all the things I needed, including two gun one intended for Derek to use. When I attempted to hand him the pistol, he shook his head and showed me the pistol hidden on him.

“You had a weapon on you this entire time?” I asked him with a raised eyebrow

He nodded “Never leave home without one, why?”

“Just asking.”

Earlier when Francis had gone after Derek, I was surprised when Derek actually got hit by Francis. While Francis is the command of a division, he was not much of a fighter. Derek had most likely refrained himself from attacking Francis out of guilt for what he had done.

“I need to ask him about this later,” I thought to myself.

I finished grabbing what I need and placed it into a small bookbag before closing my car trunk and heading over to the entrance of the apartment. It was around seven o’clock, so the sun had gone down and which worked for us since we moved through the street unnoticed. Once we entered the building, an ominous feeling overcame me that made all the hair in my body stand up straight.

“You feel that?” I asked Derek

“Yeah,” He said, his expression becomes grim “Let’s hurry.”

I agreed, and we moved towards the staircase since I did not wholly trust going on something that can easily be manipulated. Derek thought I was insane for thinking that but relentlessly followed me up the stairs. When we reached the front door of what we hope is Rick’s apartment. I give a small shake at the door handle, hoping that they were idiotic enough to leave the door unlocked just the like the previous one had; unfortunately, it was locked. Derek moved in front of the lock and took out these small two lockpicking tool. I was secretly impressed by the skill since I had tried learning it without any success.

A few seconds later a soft click came from the door handle, and Derek turned the knobbed. I had taken out the gun that was previously hidden from sight and walked inside the apartment. The apartment was dark and seem as it was devoid of life as we walked through the rooms. I was starting to believe that no one was home and Derek had this expression of disbelief on his face until he suddenly darts in my direction. Derek tackled a woman who was behind me, ready to strike my head with a wooden bat.

I heard him curse under his breath and mentioned something about how stupid he was for believing my story. I was going to retort, but a teenager about the age of 16 appeared in front of me. What took me by surprise and confirmed my suspicion was when the kid blinked and his white eyes were completely black. I had to quickly duck down as the kid threw a hook that when it hit the wall, broke through it. I retaliate a few of my own punches, but he seemed unaffected by it. Suddenly a loud crash resounded next to me which turned out to be Derek being slammed into a table. I was distracted for the small moment, and the kid took the opportunity to attack me. I jumped back, but he still managed to reach me, scratching my right shoulder.

“Fuck” I winced in pain “You believe me now?”

“Shut Up. Focus”

Derek was currently punching the women in the ribs before he got enough room to lift his feet and push her off him. I took this moment to shoot off a bullet at her, hitting her in the arm. Usually, this would not bring someone down, but the bullet in the gun was particular. It was made with a unique metal that when it comes into contact with specific entities, it drains them of all energy.

“One down,” I thought.

I quickly turned back around and shot the kid in the leg, watching as he grabbed the fresh wound and dropping to the ground.

Derek walked over to me”alright, I believe you but what now?”

“Let's tie them up, and bound their mouth. While our gun has silencers on them, their mouth does not” I grabbed the rope from my bag.

Derek grabbed some rope and walked over the women, tightly tying the rope around her wrist and legs. I did the same with the kid and moved him over to the women.

“Give me the holy water,” Derek said with hand out.

I placed the small glass bottle in his hand and saw as he poured some onto their skin, causing steam to come off them. The two on people on the floor attempted to scream but failed due to the two pieces of clothing stuffed in their mouth to muffle them.

“Just needed a final check” Derek sighed.

“The black eyes and the inhuman strength wasn't enough?” I said half-jokingly

He shrugged his shoulder “I can use magic, but I'm not a demon.”

“Yeah, I have to ask you about th…”

“Another time” Derek cut me off “Just send them back.”

I grumbled under my breath as I placed the tag on their forehead and watched as it activated. Red lines came out of the paper tag and spread out throughout their body. The demons bodies jolted forward and started convulsing as the red line grew brighter. Their eyes opened to show they were rolled entirely back before leaning forward and throwing up blood mixed with a black liquid.

“What the hell!” Derek said with disgust

“Yeah, it is a messy process,” I said with a bit of disgust as well.

After they finished throwing up, their body fell limply fell to the side and unto the ground. I grabbed their bodies and laid them against the wall before looking over at Derek who still had a disgusted expression on his face.

“Let's go,” I told Derek.

He didn't hesitate and followed me as we walked towards the exit of the apartment. When I opened the door, I found a heart-stopping scene. Around the door were twenty different individuals looking at Derek and me, their eyes black as coal. My body and I heard Derek breath catch in his throat. Slowly, I backed up until I hit Derek solid figure and caused the Demons to chase after us.

“Fuck!” Derek exclaimed as he turned and started running

I did the same, but shot a few bullets back and hitting some of the Demons in front causing them to fall to the ground and trip the one directly behind them. This small opening was enough for Derek to open the window to the fire escape. We manage to go down on the flight of stairs before some Demons appeared to be coming up from a lower floor and up to on the fire escape. I crashed through the window of the second floor and saw another family sitting on their couch watching television. Instinctively I brought up my pistol and aimed at them, making them jump unto their feet with hands raised up. Seeing their terrify expression, I figure they were not possessed.

“HIDE NOW!” I screamed at them

They listen and hurriedly went into another room; hopefully, they wouldn't get caught up in this mess. Derek moved towards the front door, and we exited the apartment in a hurry. The layout of all the floor was the same, the only difference being the color to differentiate which level is which. I led us to the stairs and went in through the door to see three Demons waiting at the edge of the stairs begin.

“Emily, I hate you,” Derek remarked from behind

I elbow him “Not the time to be joking.”

I ran forward and struck the man that stood in the middle of the group with enough force to send him stumbling back, causing him to fall down the stairs. I leaned back as the women on to my right tried to punch me and followed with a strike to her solar plexus and down to her knees. Before the third person could even move, Derek had come from behind me and push the demon down the stairs.

“You don't have too all these fancy moves, just push them off.”

“Derek” I punch the girl “Shut it!”

I went down the stairs and jumped over the side railing down to skip a portion of the distances. Derek landed behind me a few moments later while chuckling to himself. More Demons came into the hallway, and I rush at them, dodging one of the swings a man did. I punched him before slamming him hard enough into the wall to crack it. Another had started to run at me, but Derek jumped and pivoted off the wall and landed on the Demon. With the momentum that Derek had from the jump, he rolled forward and stood up in front of a blond headed female Demon. The blonde swung at Derek, but he caught her arm with his left hand before wrapping his other hand around her neck. Derek easily lifted her up and slammed her into the ground, knocking her out instantly.

“See, that is how you perform fancy moves” Derek joked.

I walked forward and shot he leg of the Demon Derek had tackled to the ground, leaving it powerless and rolling in pain. Right as I was about to respond, I noticed movement behind Derek and shot at the man running at him with a knife in hand. Derek flinched at my sudden action and slight ducked down before looking behind him to see the man withering in pain.

“Alright, I'll shut up now” Derek stated

“Thank you,” I said passing him “Now let's get out of here.”

We walked into the empty hallway of the apartment complex first floor. I proceeded to lead the way while keeping an eye out for anyone else that might try to prevent us from leaving.

“That was oddly quiet,” Derek said as we walked out the building

I gave him a spectacle look “we were being chased by Demons and that what you consider quiet.”

“No, I mean weren't there more when we tried to leave earlier? But on the way down we face only a few” Derek pondered out loud

“True, but for now let's just get going, and we can figure it out later,” I said

Derek agreed as he got into my car first, and just as I was getting into the driver side, my blood went cold. I had decided to take one last look at the apartment complex roof filled with black-eyed people staring at me leave. Turning on the quickly and driving away from the area, I let out a breath of air after turning around and seeing no one was following behind us.

It took us about thirty minutes before finally reaching Derek’s apartment. The cut on my shoulder made driving home much more difficult than it had to be. By the time I was walking into the first room of the apartment, I barely was able to lift my right arm.

“Go sit, I grab some things so I can stitch you up,” Derek said while leaving to grab a medkit.

I complied with his order and sat down on the living room couch. Pulling out my phone with my left hand, I checked to see if any Francis had sent any message.

“Don’t forget to update me later today” - Francis.

A fleeting thought came to mind about letting Francis freak out again but decided against it.

“Derek and I managed to handle the original family, but it turns our speculation about there being more in the building wasn't off. We got ambushed on the way out, but we are okay and at Derek’s place. I'll tell you the details when I see you tomorrow” - Emily.

Not even a full minute had passed by before my phone vibrated.

“Okay, try to come by early. I have some errands to run in the afternoon” - Francis.

I sent a quick reply back and threw my phone to the side just as Derek walked back into the room holding a pan in one hand and a shirt in the other. He sat down next to me and placed the items on the coffee table in front of us.

“Alright, take your shirt off,” He said while cleaning the needle with rubbing alcohol.

I raised my eyebrow at him before he turned his head in my direction and gave me a look of confusion.

“I need to see the cut and your shirt is currently in the way of the Emily” Derek exasperated.

Not arguing against his reasoning, I slowly removed my shirt which turned out to be more difficult than I thought since I was only using one hand. I laid back against the couch and letting Derek have a view of my whole upper body in just a bra.

Derek observed the cut while gently cleaning out the wound “Not too bad.”

He grabbed the threaded needle and started stitching up the wound. To not distract Derek, I stood quietly and sat back letting him work in peace. During this moment my thought went to all the people had been taken over. Francis and I knew that the situation with Michael was terrible, but not to the point where they had these many running around. It was probably because of Derek unknowingly killing off our people that it got this bad.

“All done” Derek brought me out of my thoughts “It was too deep, so you should be healed in a week or two.”

“I should be good by tomorrow night” I corrected him.

He gave me a confused look.

“I'm a user, the mana inside me accelerates my natural healing” I explain

Nodding his head in understanding, derek points over at the shirt “You can use that shirt since yours is bloody and ruined.

He stood up with the pan in hand and left to another room, leaving me to put the shirt on. When I slipped the piece of clothing on, I rested against the couch until the area next to me shifted. Derek had returned with two bottles of beer and handed me one.

“What now?” He asked taking a gulp

I let out a breath of air “I honestly do not know, from what I can tell there are a lot more than we imagine.”

My eyes started to roam around his living yet again and stopped just above the entryway to the kitchen.

“Is that a katana?” My voice laced with interest

Derek's lips turned upwards into a grin “Yeah.”

“And you can use”

“Yes, I trained under a master during my early teen years” His voice sounding offended this time around

I let out a laugh “How did you get your parents to agree to sword lessons?”

Derek was smiling, but after the question left my lips, he went reticent. A grim expression overcame his face before letting out a breath of air.

“Didn't have to, the orphanage I was living at practically begged me to do it” Derek stated

I bit my tongue for what he had told me “Sorry for asking, I didn't know.”

“Its okay” Derek laughed lightly “My time wasn’t all that bad, I learned almost everything from my stay there.”

“If you don't mind, but what happened to them?” I asked him

Derek looked at me for a moment and seemed to be pondering on the idea of whether he should tell me or not. After an awkward silence, he sighed and chugged down the rest of his beer.

“It happened when I was eleven.” He moved forward to grab another beer “I returned home after school and found them pinned to the wall. A large piece of metal going through their wrist to hold them up.”

Derek flashed a pained expression, and his eyes became hollowed as he remembers that day.

“At the time I didn’t know what to do so I did the only thing that came to mind, cried until passing out. It wasn't until later in the afternoon when the neighbor came to see why my father didn't show up to their weekly poker game that I was found passed out in the middle of a pool of blood.” Derek’s voice becoming dejected

“Were the people ever caught?” my tone a little hopeful

“No, the only thing they had to go off was this symbol found on the wall.”

My body moved on it and wrapped my arms around Derek’s body, ignoring the pain running through my shoulder. I knew what it was like to lose family, the feeling of dejection and sorrow that you will never stop having. Knowing that you will never see their smile, eyes or to hear their voice and be able to talk to them. Its something that everyone must go through, but it shouldn't be at such a young age and certainly not through those conditions.

“I know you probably don't want me to touch you, but when I lost my mother two years ago, I needed someone to be there for me. It was at that time that Francis showed up in my life, and I was able to get through it” I said while burying my face in the crook of his neck.

I didn't feel any movement but then felt an arm go around me and Derek’s face leaning against mine.

“You’re not alone anymore.”