True Incubus: The Demon with No Limits

[Front route is gone, there is too much crowd, east exit is blocked by media vehicles, west route was where the gunshots came from. We are using the underground service exit.]

Clara’s voice came from Lucian’s comm.

”Where is Alaric?”

Lucian asked as he moved through the hall while holding Evelyn’s hand, not even using the formal tone, though at this point in time, Clara did not care, she only answered.

[Moving toward the service level, Lila is with him, Sarah and Elise are watching crowd movement near the rear approach.]

”And the fire?”

[Nearby side building, there is some partial internal collapse, but the smoke is spreading towards the service road.]

Clara reported and those words made Lucian narrow his eyes.

”That’s quite convenient.”

[Yes, from this point onwards, we are treating this as hostile movement.]

Clara spoke coldly.

Lucian nodded. He took a few more turns still holding Evelyn’s hand, they reached a side corridor. Alaric was already there, he had a calm expression on his face, but Lucian could sense how different the air around him was.

Lucian looked at him and this time, he didn’t make any pointless jokes, getting Evelyn out safely was the priority here.

Lila was also there with Alaric. Two of Evelyn’s bodyguards guarded the corner. That was when Clara’s voice came from the other side.

[Car One takes Miss Starling. Car Two moves support and breaks through first if the lane opens. Car Three stays command and medical. If we split, regroup at residence route three.]

That’s when Sarah’s voice came through the comm.

[Crowd is spilling toward the rear road, the movement doesn’t seem natural, panicked people do not move like this.]

That’s when Elise nodded as well—

[I am picking up residue near the side alley.]

She spoke and the instant she did, every single Enclave member, even Lucian understood it.

They were here.

This was no accident.

It was all prepared.

”Miss Starling, you will stay with me and Cross.”

Alaric commanded with a solemn look on his face as he looked at Evelyn.

Evelyn nodded, she did not ask any questions, not right now.

Lucian looked at her, she was still relatively calmer, though she was holding his hand more tightly than before.

He looked at her and laughed—

”What? Tired already? It was just a little walk. I thought celebrities were very athletic.”

”You are terrible at this whole ’making someone feel better’ thing, you know that?”

Evelyn shot back with a smile, her grip however, had eased.

Lucian smiled at that.

”What do you mean? I am excellent at making others feel better. People always come to me to feel better.”

Evelyn glared at him, Lucian just laughed.

”Come.”

Alaric ordered, ignoring their conversation. Lucian’s face changed the next second, he looked at Evelyn who nodded and the group descended through a staff stairwell instead of using the main elevator.

The roars outside grew louder as they went down, then, Lucian heard another sound.

CRACK

And his face turned even more solemn.

A structure broke.

The fire most likely caused it, that would release even more smoke. He could also hear more and more people screaming in panic, many were trying to run away but didn’t know where to go.

Lucian however, did not reveal any of it.

Not when Evelyn was right next to him.

About five minutes later, they reached the underground loading area, three cars waited here for them, their engines were already on.

Car One was the closest, so Lucian took Evelyn there, Alaric followed them, the driver was already inside before they came here.

Sarah and Elise were inside Car Two, together with Reed, one of Evelyn’s ordinary guards, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, looking far less relaxed than what Lucian was used to seeing.

Clara, Lila, Hannah and Marcus moved to Car Three.

The service gate began to open, the smoke pushed through.

[Do not inhale the smoke, we do not know what it might contain, neither do we have the time to analyse it.]

Clara warned.

And then—

[Do not stop unless the road ahead is physically blocked.]

Sarah, who had strong instincts, gave a warning as well.

No one ignored her, not at this moment.

The group moved.

For the first few seconds, the route looked like it might work.

The service road behind Meridian Grand Theatre was narrow and ugly, quite different from the rest of the posh area. It was pressed between the theatre wall and the back of several older commercial buildings, delivery doors lined one side and trash bins, parked vans, and metal barriers narrowed the lane even more.

But despite all of this, there were still people here, though the number was much lower than the other routes.

The group thought fewer people made it safer.

It didn’t.

As they moved, the smoke around them thickened, almost unnaturally, the car’s headlights cut through it, turning the air white.

From somewhere ahead, more people rushed in, the number was still low, but from their screams and the crazy looks in their eyes, it was clear someone had told them Evelyn was here.

Fans, reporters, some civilians who were just running from the fire, they all rushed forward, some were coughing, some were crying because of what they had lost in the fire, some were scared by the crowd itself and some fools held their phones up as if filming mattered more than breathing.

Then—

Bang Bang Bang

Gunshots were heard.

Three of them.

Someone screamed as if they were hurt and the next instant—

”AAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

More people screamed in fear.

Panic spread.

People started running in every direction, someone fell, others nearly stepped on him, he screamed, people screamed even more, panic surged.

And even in all this, a few people screamed Evelyn’s name without even knowing where Evelyn was, a media van reversed blindly and slammed into a metal barrier.

And in all this chaos, Car Two swerved through a gap just before the crowd fully collapsed into the lane.

[We are through!]

Sarah’s voice came from the comm.

Car One tried to do the same, they were just behind Car Two, they had pushed through the crowd but just as they were about to leave—

”Fuck!”

The driver cursed as another media van ahead of them had turned sideways.

They could not leave.

Lucian looked at the van and narrowed his eyes.

It was not an accident, there was a lock on the rear wheels, a lock the driver clearly did not know about.

He looked at Alaric, Alaric looked at him, both of them understood and if there were any doubts before, now, they were certain.

The fallen van blocked most of the road and the panicked crowd blocked the other side, blocking their retreat as well.

Car One had nowhere to go.

And the worst part?

They were here.