One of Oengus's hands was balled into a tight fist, holding Troy's heart in an invisible grasp, preventing him from having a heart attack. His other hand was holding Troy's body with his powers up in the air. Impassively, I made a circle around Troy and stopped by Grace. She fainted and was lying unconscious on the floor. My eyes scanned the hall for possible surveillance cameras, and when I spotted two, I raised my hand and mentally smashed them in my fist, watching as the actual surveillance cameras burst into pieces.

"Wh o are y u," Troy croaked.

Hearing his voice made me spun around and focus my gaze on Troy's back. My nose drew deeply in the air in the room, and I froze. There was a faint metallic scent lingering around Troy. I stepped closer and took another deep inhale. The smell was metallic, but it wasn't like anything I smelled before. The smell of metal was rusty, old and almost sickening.

"Who we are isn't as important as the answers that you're going to give us," Oengus purred. I stole a look at him, amused at his apparent interest in my business, and went back to figuring out my suspicions about the scent.

"Do you feel it?" I asked Oengus. Sure he was more informed about the existence of such things as the demonic scent. If I could feel it, he could too.

He followed my example and took a deep breath in. As the metallic scent reached his nostrils, his pupils dilated, spreading blackness all over his irises, then it shifted abruptly becoming yellow slits, until they returned to its natural dark brown color. Fascinated, I blinked and cocked my head to one side anticipating the answer, and at the same time wondering if I could do the same. After all, I had some of his blood running through my veins.

"He is carrying an agent," Oengus said.

"What's agent?" I asked curiously.

"Incubus that soaks into a human soul and guides it. Like a little voice in the back of your head. In his case, it's an agent who reports to its master."

"Who is the master?"

"And that's a good question," he replied smirking.

The steps from the stairs interrupted our little discussion, and both of our heads snapped up in the direction of the noise. Swiftly, Oengus lowered Troy to the floor but didn't let go of him, keeping him the prisoner of his powers. In a few seconds, the steps reached the bottom, and Spencer emerged from around the corner. At first, he didn't see us standing, staring at him, and continued walking until Grace got to his line of vision. He noticed her and looked up frowning. His eyes in took the scene in front of him, and he gasped.

"Right," Oengus muttered clicking his tongue.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked, walking closer to Grace. He dropped his backpack on the floor and sat down onto his heels next to Grace, and started checking her pulse.

"She is alive. Just fainted," I commented.

"What happened?" He moved her a little, rolling her onto her back.

"Nothing. She's just fainted." I repeated. I didn't need to look at Oengus to know that he has rolled his eyes at my answer. For some reasons, that was exactly what I imagined him doing.

"Shell I call an ambulance?" Spencer glanced warily at me.

"No need. She'll be okay. We don't have time for that." I caught more shuffle that was coming from the staircase, and my eyes darted to Oengus. Our gazes were connected. Something flashed in his stare, but the meaning of it I understood, and we curtly nodded to each other simultaneously. "Pick her up, Spence. We need to leave," the words left my mouth fluently, and I turned to look at him. Spencer's frown deepened and he glanced between Troy and Grace, obviously not seeing the connection between the two of them. Neither did I, but that's why we needed to leave to find it out.

"No women or children," Spencer spat pulling Grace closer to him as if trying to protect her.

My eyebrows shot up, and it clicked. He was so unaware of who Grace was. "It's okay, Spencer. This is Grace. My goddaughter." The sound of the steps from the stairs grew louder. "We need to leave," I urged. I so didn't want to hurt him.

Spencer's eyes widened a fracture in surprise, and he glanced at Grace, then at me. "She..." he trailed off.

"Yes. Her mother was dark-skinned, and her father was my childhood best friend. She is older now, but she is my goddaughter who I held in my arms when she was a baby. Make the decision, Spencer. Three...two..." Before I said one he scooped Grace in his arms and headed towards the exit.

"Atta boy," I heard Oengus snicker, but dismissed it and went to grab all of our travel bags not to leave anything behind.

Troy was already obediently marching away, suppressed by Oengus powers, following him from the doors. I scanned the lobby for possible witnesses of the confrontation and when found no one worth killing, started making my way out of the motel, just in time for somebody reach the lobby.

While walking to the car, I smashed on the way a few more surveillance cameras. Just in case. We didn't need attention from the law authorities. Not that we wouldn't be able to take care of a few things. I just didn't want to flash my new identity too much. Besides, the time was running out.

I had only four days left.

And after that.

The hunt will begin.

Meanwhile...

(Tyr)

"Brothers!" I stepped into the conference room, looking at my half-brothers that were sitting at the conference table. My smile stretched wider as I observed the grave expressions on their faces, and firmly walking, made my way towards the front of the room.

First, I glanced at Abysmal, who was occupying the left side of the table. His mother was human, which made him not as powerful as me. Besides, he was born a little later than myself and had spent his first hundred years living in some village near the Balkans. But because Lucifer's genes were the dominant one in their union, made Abysmal take after him in many ways, especially physical. They shared the same clear blue eyes, blond hair, perfectly chiseled face, and our father's huge body. Frankly speaking, I disliked him. He was vile, merciless, greedy. And it was fine by me, if not for his lack of class. Abysmal, in my opinion, was as tasteless as a young wine. He was a total package from outside, and from inside was missing the most important quality - gentility. Everything he did stunk of proletarian. There was no high purpose in him. No values. No morals.

Sure, I disliked Oengus even though we here full blooded brothers. At least, he had that craze about him that made me admire him, even respect him. His obsession with certain things and love for a game were his driving forces, which on a very basic level was a form of art. He was brilliant, successful in his work and powerful. But what made him really dangerous was that he was unpredictable. In other words, he was an entirely sane psychopath.

Abysmal didn't have any of Oengus's splendor. He was always surrounded by his goons that he liked to be dressed in black uniforms. The majority of them were the converted feras. Some of them were the agents, some were the collectors.He definitely liked his entourage, which said a lot about his annoying personality.

On the other side of the table was sitting Samil. His full name was Samilien de Voulailler, and he was the youngest of Lucifer sons that survived the great hunts that fanatic humans used to organize from time to time. I had a faint sympathy for him because we were both born in the same region, but of course, it was the only thing that I liked about him. Maybe also the fact that he was born during the regimen of Louis the XIV and was a part of his court. Back then, French high society was obsessed with mysteries, cults, and black magic. They believed in a dark Lord and loved to gather in some secret place to perform some rituals. The funny part was that they never managed to summon even the lowest form of demon. And Ironically, Lucifer stopped by one of their sessions for his own amusement, while they tried to summon the devil. There he met the young Hortense de Voulailler the wife of Marquise de Voulailler one of the Prince de Condé's protégés. They had a short affair that resulted in having Samilien.

When Samilien turned twenty-five, father dear took him from his human surrounding. Like our father he had clear blue eyes, perfectly proportioned face and a sturdy built. Though unlike him, he had red hair and his powers were limited. Personality wise, he was an arrogant brat if you ask me, even with his outstanding manners.

My eyes shot from Abysmal to Samil, and I sat on the chair. "I'm happy to welcome you. It's been a few years."

"Ten to be precise," Samil replied with his thick French accent that he refused to lose. I knew for a fact that he could speak fifteen languages. Each with such precision that even the original carrier wouldn't master.

A flare of irritation quickly vanished, and my lips stretched into another smile, yet again. From my pocket, I withdrew a handkerchief that was engraved with my original initials and ran it in between my fingers. "Approximately," I returned and took a seat in the head of the conference table. Something caught my attention and groaning to myself I reached for the office phone. "Marguerite," I snapped into the speakerphone. "I really do hope that it wasn't you who prepared my conference room."

"A new assistant, sir," she responded with a neutral voice.

"I suppose you would like to come and fix your protégé's omissions."

"Right away," she replied and in a few short seconds the clicking of her heels reached the door of the conference room. She entered holding a washcloth and some cleansing solution. Her eyes scanned the room for the supposed dirt and fell on the spot from the fingers in the middle of the table. Grimacing, she made her way towards the closest reachable corner and meticulously rubbed the cloth over the polished surface. While she was at the task, no one uttered a single world, watching her with a confused expression. When she was done, she turned around and left without hesitation.

"Right," I smirked bringing the attention back to me. "Where was I? Ah, yes. The matter why I asked you to join me today." I paused, and since the room remained silent, I went on. "As you know, around fifty years ago I had a little project that brought us the great troubles. It also forced me to find the two of you and make us the allies. And we should be. The sons of the man that rules the earth deserve a fair share of power over the humans."

"Where's Oengus?" Abysmal cut me off abruptly. "If we're here to discuss the shares, he must be present."

I fought against my desire to snap his neck and squeezed the handkerchief tighter in my fist.

"Oengus is not a part of the business agreement. He is our brother, but his actions speak loud and clear. He has lost his chances at taking back what we created together during our the most fruitful years."

"How do you know that he won't come back and demand his share or worse? How do you know that he won't start his own little affairs that would make us go into the war?" Samil sneered. He was the least fond of Oengus. I suspected that it was jealousy. Samil, after all, was only part of what we were full.

"Ah!" I exclaimed excitedly. "That's why I called you for. The liability. I suspect that he purposely hides a little thing that I really want to get back. In a way, he stole it from me."

"And what would that be?" Abysmal titled his head, curiously looking at me.

"Stacy Ann Jenkins, brother. That would be Stacy Ann Jenkins. And I need to get her alive."

"You want us to go after some nasty human girl?" Samil shrieked in disbelieve. His fist connected with the table surface successfully cracking it in the middle.

Calmly, I pushed the office chair with my feet, rolling myself away from the table. My lips twitched, holding a smile that I yet again wanted to grace my stupid half-brother with. "Oh, don't worry. She is more valuable than Jesus Christ himself. The peculiarity of her origin definitely puts our own lineage at the question. Let's say if you were the last generation of Bourbons, she would be its sire. And if you were from Tudors, she would be standing at the base of your house. And so on and so forth."

He inhaled sharply with his nose setting a glare on nothing in particular. How easy it was to rile up his nerves, and I used every opportunity in doing so.

"What do you want from us?" it was Abysmal who asked the question. The right question, I might add.

I grimaced, raising my eyebrows and sat back in the chair. "The usual. People. I'm kind of short on staff at the moment."

"Hard to picture," he sat back, too. "Not with your resources."

"Let's just say that I mean a different kind of staff. If I start pulling people off the streets, it will get too suspicious. Besides, I don't possess the time on forming the army. The matter is urgent and needs immediate actions." Who knows who else out there wants to find Stacy.

"What's it in for us?" Samil huffed. He seemed to recover his wounded ego and finally started participating. "If I offer my...assistance. What would I get for it?"

"All the money in the world," I smirked. "What else would it be?"

"Two billion for ten units by twelve," Abysmal chirped.

I paused before answering, making it look that the amount of money he asked made me hesitant. "No negotiations?" I asked.

"It took me some time and money to raise and train them. Two billion is a fair price to ask."

"Done," I reluctantly agreed and set my stare at Samil, knowing in advance that he will ask more. Greedy little pest.

Money was of little importance when the greatest power on earth was at stake. I still wasn't sure what would I do with Stacy Ann, but to have her I'd sell my own mother twice. Just like that.    

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Hello, my little strudels!

I was thinking a lot about characters from "A very dark tale". As you already know, to portray Stacy Ann I chose Leighton Meester. I didn't want Stacy to be super attractive, but to be, how to put it, average with something that catches your eye.

Tyr - Ben Barnes. Dark, young, mysterious, arrogant.

Oengus- Christian Bale. Charismatic, a little crazy, devilish, dangerous.

It's fun to play with the characters and give them not only physical aspect, but their character and mental state. I added two new dark participants. They don't play the main roles, but add pressure to the story.

For the role of Samil, I picked Cillian Murphy. The actor has such a charisma that I couldn't just pass by and not include him into the flow. Samil is bratty, arrogant, dangerous, definitely handsome and definitely evil. Cillian has just the look. :) So yeah!

As for Abysmal - Alexander Skarsgard. Yep - Massive, brut, a little apathetic, strong and sinister.

That's all for now. Let me know what you think about the characters!

Love you all,

Lina.