"So what are we doing again."

I hated the seats in the library. They were made of hard oak, and the one I always got stuck with had a weird slouch at the back. It made Lucy's long meetings even longer.

"Your going to find The Carnage's leader and ask for Jeriah back," Lucy explained.

She had been explaining what felt like an hour, but I didn't understand any of it. Though from the groans from the rest of my team they did.

"Look, Tom," Jordan saw the look of confusion on my face and explained. "The Carnage is a branch off from Dianite's. They have there own sector like everyone else does, but on accident Jeriah walked into their sector. So they took him prisoner-"

"Prisoner my ass." Liberty walked in. He usually came in to save us from rants, but this time he was adding onto the fun. "They hunted him. That's what they do."

"Liberty, I know you don't agree with there lifestyle but-" Lucy tried to diffuse the situation, but she seemed to be making everything worse.

"When what you're supposed to agree with is that your food then-"

"Wait, wait, wait-" Tucker paused the conversation. We were all stunned and at least I was a bit horrified. "Are we supposed to infiltrate a cannibal cult."

Hope sat upright. She woke up from the secret nap she was taking. "I am not dealin' with weird ass Dianites. Not again!"

"Will I be eaten as well?" Wag asked. "Because I used to be immortal and if that ranks me out-"

The library quickly turned into us yelling our questions over one another, or just plain being pissed that we had to go on another crazy heroes journey.

And the room turned into so much crazy banter that I couldn't hear my own thoughts. All I could hear was Jordan yelling "DID YOU KNOW THAT DURING THE WESTERN EXPANSION-"

THUMP. Lucy slammed some heavy books on the ground. She was now standing on her desk with a glare on her face that made her yellow sundress look like a cape for a scary video game boss.

"Now." She said sweetly. "If you would let me explain." She shot a nasty look at Liberty, which made him slowly sink back into his seat.

She sighed, blowing her blonde hair out of her face. "The Carnage is a religion that follows in Dianite. They follow a ritual that Thomas may know about. It expanded out when God's were still allowing sacrifices. Mianite preferred animals, while Dianite-"

"Wanted you to use a chalice of your blood," I added. I knew the part by heart, mainly because I was horrified of it. "Because if you want something you got it yourself. Though that branched out into using others blood, because in a way you got that yourself."

Lucy raised her hand up. "And before you start asking if they are murderers, no they are not. All the blood they get is consensual or from themselves."

"So like a blood drive?" Jordan questioned. His head was still cranking out questions. "What do they use all the sacrifices for? Like what do they ask for."

"Well." Lucy started to fidget with the corners of her dress. "Here's the controversial part." She was treading lightly though the conversation, not just spitting out details. "They don't use the blood for sacrifices, exactly. They don't have a god to sacrifice it, so they find power in a more passionate sense."

I crinkled up my eyebrows together. I didn't like the sound of this excuse.

Hope started to shake her head. "Oh fuck no-"

"They have blood orgies," Liberty ended.

"NOPE. NOPE. FUCK THIS. NO!" Hope stood up, knocking her chair on the ground. She was making the fastest exit possible. "NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!"

"That is only on special occasions!" Lucy got out quickly. No one was really paying attention at this point, though. "They mostly just drink it!"

This factor just made Jordan look a little sick. I almost handed him a bin to puke in he was turning so green.

While everyone else was running around like headless chickens, I was quite calm. It didn't seem to strange, compared to what else we had ran into. Then again I had ran into a lot more than the rest of my team had. Being the leader of Dianites army for a solid five years makes you learn a few things. They weren't harming anybody, unless-

I turned to Liberty, who was just sitting in a pile of sulk instead of running around complaining.

"Do that actually hunt people?" I asked. "Or is that just a stereotype?"

He sighed. Me talking to him seemed to make him less angry. "They pay more for different types of blood, because some are more rare than others." Liberty shook his head. "There is nothing special about our blood. It doesn't build things. It's not like in the stories-"

I tried to put the pieces together, without Jordan. So The Carnage will pay more for nephilim blood than others. Though Liberty doesn't see anything special with the blood, and is blaming the story Lucy told us for the romanticism of it.

"Why do you hate them so much then? Doesn't sound like their fault they think it's so special?" I suggested.

"Here's the things." Liberty started to get more tense and he leaned into me. "Their is some black market crap going on. I've had now thirteen students come up to me and say that they have some weird mark on their arm. Something that could only come from a syringe. Having it be illegal to take out blood won't stop them."

"So they sneak in and take blood from you guys, like when, at night probably-"

Liberty nodded his head in agreement.

"And then they sell it in a black market."

"But you didn't hear that from me," Liberty started to get up from his chair, which was a little hard to watch. He was trying to act all suave and charming, but you could tell from his shaking hands that he was legitimately scared. "I don't need Faith to worry about it. She's dealing with this Necromancy crap."

I shook my head yes. I wouldn't tell anybody about Liberty's crazy conspiracy theory. The real thing I was worried about was Faith's problem. It was still so surreal to me that someone was manipulating dead souls. Using a magic so dark that not even Dianite would touch it in his most desperate moments.

"Hey." Tucker nudged me. I looked up from my thoughts and realized I was sitting alone. Everyone had calmed down from the beginning arguments. "You made a decision or not."

I was still in half a daze because of my daydreaming. "What?" I asked.

"Are you coming or not." Tucker explained. His face was at his normal calm, and something must have made him feel better about the mission. "The mission has us dealing with the more sensual topics of the group since we're going to a nightclub, but Faith came in and told us we get used to the smell."

How would she know?

"Yeah, sure." I was still speaking a bit weakly. I realized that it was making Tucker a bit suspicious. "I'll come."

"Great." He said, and was still squinting at me when I started to stand up from the chair. "You alright?" He asked. The closest thing this bitter man showed to affection.

"Hell Yeah!" And just to top it off I slapped this bitter man on the back. Just like an annoying soccer dad.

"Amazing." Tucker glared at me, rubbing his back. "Never do that again." He added on, but he had a hint of a smile on his face, which made me feel better.

I just smirked at him, and we walked out of the library being normal. People would have looked at us and wouldn't have thought "Hey they're gonna go to a blood nightclub".

But even with Tucker with me to make me laugh, and the bloody orgy thing so ridiculous that it made everything else disappear I still felt weird.

The idea of necromancy was still leaving a funny feeling in my stomach.

The carriage hitched against my shoulder as I tried to catch a few minutes. By the time I had decently dozed off we were ready to get off the carriage. It made no sense that we had taken a carriage to a weird nightclub that was only a few yards away.

"Your tie is crooked," Tucker reached for my throat.

I swatted him away before he could make the first attack. "Get off!"

They had made us where these stupid suits with tight ties that hurt my Tom's apple. Sure I looked nice in a suit, but I had over worn them a long time ago. It was time to put the suits down and let Tommy be Tommy.

Sonja was wearing a tight little black dress. She was the only one not uncomfortable. She enjoyed being bait. Having her go down a couple of hidden hallways and pretend to be a normal customer would do us some good.

And it wasn't just me being paranoid. Jordan was also ungodly uncomfortable, and he only had to put a blazer on. Whatever fabric they used to make the outfits was poor quality. Tucker, Hope, and Wag didn't understand because they got out of having to go undercover.

"Tom I know what you thinking," Lucy glared at me. "It's not an undercover mission!"

Oh.

Lucy's small voice and frame could be very horrifying when she was angry. Jordan says she reminds him of his aunts rabid chihuahua.

It didn't help that she knew everything, literally everything. Even what your were thinking at that very moment.

"You know your wearing a whole lot of yellow to be going undercover," I snarked back. I was desperately trying to ignore the fact that I was going to meet the real life equivalent of vampires.

"It's not undercover." Lucy moved to calm words instead of growling, realizing neither would work on me. "Your going to negotiate for Jeriah back, and to do that you have to respect their culture."

"Blah" I said out loud.

Jordan shrugged, scratching his neck were his blazer rode up. "I think it's kinda cool we get to see this weird stuff."

Lucy cleared her throat.

Jordan's eyes got wide. "Sorry." He put on his fake smile and stared lifelessly at Hope. "I'm excited to see this new and very different group of people."

Hope winked at him. She knew she was a bad influence, and she was proud of that.

Sure we were picking on the group for being weird, but we weren't going to go in their and make fun of them. We all knew we had some traditions that would be real damn weird to them.

"What do we do about the carriage?" Tucker asked. "What if someone comes up to it and realizes it's not one of theirs?"

"That is why you, Hope, and Wag are going to be standing by it," Lucy explained. "We are not doing anything illegal. Well, not unless you have too."

Hope nodded her head. "So definitely punch the first asshole I see, and steal the first necklace I find."

"No," Lucy said sternly.

Hope winked. "Gotcha."

"I meant no!" Lucy exclaimed.

Hope just winked again and then opened the carriage door. She exited the carriage as Lucy looked at the wall in tired distain.

"She means well," Jordan said, trying to reassure her.

Lucy sighed. "So she won't steal anything."

"Oh, no. She's defiantly going to steal enough to pawn off at least ¢250. That's her normal goal."

Jordan excited the carriage, and I followed. Lucy looked more white than ever behind us. She was horrified that she would fail her first mission behind our corespondent.

She had nothing to worry about though. We killed a god and death without any fancy Oracle. We didn't need Lucy's help to get Jeriah back. She could just sit back and relax. This would be a piece of cake.

I thought until I entered the nightclub.

The place was black on red on black on red on black on red. The red rubies on the chandelier gave off a red hint of light in the dark and steamy nightclub. Everything smelled like sweat, smoke, whiskey, and iron.

The middle of the club was packed with The Carnage. All shapes and sizes. Some were big men, and curvy women. Suave gentlemen and flirty ladies. Some that I couldn't tell exactly who they were, but they all seemed like they were having fun. Different colored hairs and skins of the whole fucking rainbow. Dangled earrings and bulky jewelry. The only thing anyone had in common was their lack of clothing.

I could barely hear whatever synth music was playing over the chatter of people and the clanking of glasses. The whole place was wild, intriguing insanity.

Sonja eyes lit up, and like the rest of us she was surprisingly interested. "I'm gonna go search over their."

She pointed to some barren hall, and before Jordan could even argue she was gone.

He clapped his hands together. "Great!" He sighed. "This is already a nightmare."

"C'mon." I tugged in his sleeve, trying to speak over the music and talking. "Their president's quarters are over this way."

Jordan shook his head yes. He was willing to be guided by me as he went around searching. Some mix of disgusted curiosity. It was hard to not be grossed out as you watched people sit on black leather couches and drink from someone skin, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. I couldn't be mad at that.

"Oh my god. Oh my god." Jordan shoved me a little more.

"What?! What?!" I started to get nervous. I stopped from guiding him around. I was worried he had gotten himself hurt or found something we shouldn't see.

It was a mix of the two.

Jordan was pointing at a man, holding vials of dark red liquid. Some of the vials has black bows around them, and other vials were etched with designs. Each was different in its own way, and other members were choosing out their bottles meticulously.

"Oh my god, it's a blood pimp." I blurted out.

Jordan squinted at them, and made it very obvious that he was staring. "It's better than pawning off humans like they're objects."

I started shaking my head. The smell was starting to get to me. The deeper and deeper we got into the nightclub the more scents that shouldn't mix were. I was going to get a headache and be useless if we didn't hurry up.

"It really smells like testosterone," Jordan admitted.

I expected the worse. "I know."

I turned, trying to get us to the presidents office as quick as possible. I could feel that something was going to happen. Something bad. You live in a place like Mianite long enough, you just know.

And it did.

We knocked into two girls. The one had short black hair and was pale. The other was tanner with thigh high boots and blue hair. He bright red lips scared me the most.

"Wow Cassandra." The blue haired one smirked. "These must be our donors for the night." I could see from her lips that she knew we weren't supposed to be here.

"Oh no- no- no-," Jordan stammered. He had done his studying. He knew what donors were. "We-"

The blue hair girl slid in front of us. She was incredibly tall with long legs and wide shoulders. She was extremely intimidating. Too intimidating to be that close to my face.

"Unless you aren't supposed to be here?" She purposely slurred her words, just so she could bite her lips.

"I- uh?" Jordan's cheeks were a dangerous level of red.

"I want the one on the right," The smaller one piped up, and she grabbed Jordan. "He has a bit more meat to him."

"Uhh-" Jordan was still concentrating on what donor meant. His brain was on auto pilot.

"You don't want him." I interrupted. "He's stubby. He only looks strong because of an optical allusion."

Jordan was too flabbergasted to argue.

"And I'm supper skinny, it would be like -"

The blue hair girl moved even closer she me. She bit her lips and grabbed my tie, pulling me closer. I was dangerous levels of uncomfortable.

"It would be like having a really dry turkey-"

"Oh but we could just make you into broth?" A strange voice levitated out from the music. A strong and melodic tone, with a hint of an accent like mine.

The girl who had a huge grip on me had her hands loosen. Her eyes got wide as she realized who was speaking.

"If your all bone? Correct." The voice continued to speak, and a girl sauntered towards us.

Both of the girls who had been previously trapping us made a quick exit.

"Because we eat people. Isn't that the stereotype, Mr. Syndicate?"

A women who had her hands behind her back walked towards us. Her white blonde hair was tied up in a knot, which made her pale skin seem even tanner. She was small a slight, but her voice and posture made her seem strong.

She opened her hands. Her nails were filed to a sharp point.

"Don't we have a meeting?" She asked. Her lips were red without lipstick, and her grin told me that I would learn more about that soon.

"Let's begin."

I didn't see the red glow to everything sinister like Jordan or Tom did. I saw it as a tribute to their god, and in a way that was really sweet.

Though, their god had been a war crazed maniac so maybe it wasn't that sweet.

Either way, they were human. Them having beliefs proved that enough, and every human deserved to be treated as much.

The halls were significantly more quiet than the noisy dance floor. Dark tile floors were so quiet that I could hear the tap of my heels on them, and the echoed down the hall, bouncing off the red walls.

I had trouble understanding exactly what I was supposed to be looking for. I think Lucy expected me to look for Jeriah incase her agreement didn't work. She had shown me a quick picture of him, and even though it had been causal I understood the underlying message.

It was a black and white picture and I remember how scratchy the film was in my hand. Jeriah was extremely skinny with sunken in cheeks and harsh cheekbones. Still he had a beard and thick head of hair to hide that, black hair, and his eyes were pitch brown. I would really know it was him is I saw a special amulet around him. It would be in the shape of a heart and have Latin words written on it. His rage from being a Blood Knight.

I saw only a few people pass me in the hall. Each was different in their own way, but always had one thing in common. They were all drunk. The halls I was going down didn't have staff. They weren't where I would find Jeriah.

A guy briskly walked beside me, and I noticed he wasn't as wobbly as everyone else. He also didn't have a suit on. Only a black shirt.

Staff?

I followed him, trying to make my complete U-Turn not obvious. I couldn't tell if he had noticed. He had normally stiff shoulders and an aloof sorta motion. He didn't seem any more suspicious than a guy of his demeanor would be.

What are you going to do? I asked myself. We were getting closer and closer to a locked doorway. I could see something that resembled a janitors closet, the next had to be a staff room. Just follow him in.

That's exactly what I tried to do.