Chapter 188: Return to the Rogue District

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Edrick

"It's located in the Rogue district," the investigator said, his face pale and his eyes wide.
The Rogue district was such a dangerous place that even the police were terrified to go there. But I wasn't; if I had to fight a thousand Rogues to save Moana and Ella, then I would do it.

"Let's go," I said, storming over to the door.

"Mr. Morgan, are you sure it's safe for you to come—" one of the cops began, but I whirled around to glare at him intensely. I could feel my eyes beginning to glow, and my stare alone was enough to make the cop fall silent and shut his mouth. The rest of the cops nodded, and we left Selina and the maids standing in the foyer.

"Stay here and call me immediately if Moana happens to show up," I told Selina as the elevator doors closed. The last thing I saw was her nodding grimly with tears in her eyes.

The police had their cars parked outside. I climbed into the passenger seat with the police chief and then we were on our way. As we drove across town, I couldn't stop thinking about what Kelly had implied... How she thought that I would actually marry her in exchange for Moana and Ella's lives. But the sound of whatever happened at the end seemed promising... I could only hope that Moana had broken free and knocked Kelly out. Hopefully, we would arrive to find both Ella and Moana safe, and Kelly restrained so she couldn't cause anymore trouble.

What surprised me, though, was the obvious lack of a struggle. Neither Moana nor Ella's room seemed to have anything out of place; it was as though they simply got up and walked out. Although, I supposed that I wouldn't have been terribly surprised if Kelly had threatened them and forced them to leave quietly. For all I knew, maybe she gave them something to make them sleep, and had her men take them away. Honestly, the latter was preferable in some ways, at least for Ella; I would have preferred if she could have just been magically asleep for everything so that it wouldn't haunt her later. But deep down, I logically knew that that wasn't going to be the case.

The squad of police cars made their way through the city, using their lights to make traffic move aside so we could get quickly through the city. It wasn't long before we finally arrived at the entrance of the Rogue district.

"You ready?" the cop who was driving asked me as we drove into the darker part of town, where Rogues lined the streets and stared at us as we drove past. I nodded grimly, just trying not to look out the windows too much in case any of the Rogues got pissed off and decided to attack.
As we drove, the streets began to get narrower and darker. The cop had a map on his console with the location that Kelly's call came from pinged on it, and as we got closer, it felt as though the tall buildings were caving in on us. The darker the Rogue district became, the heavier and more sickening it felt. On either side of the street, I could see Rogues wandering aimlessly. They looked at the cop cars with suspicion, and I knew that if we ran into the wrong group of Rogues, they could easily block us off in these narrow streets.

And, eventually, that was exactly what happened.

Up ahead, a group of Rogues came out of an alleyway and blocked the street.
"Shit," the cop murmured. He pulled out his radio and contacted the other cars behind us. "Looks like we've got a Code Purple up here," he said. "I'm gonna slow down and see if they move."

The cop slowed down, but the Rogues didn't move. He came to a stop and sat there for a few seconds, then clicked his radio again, this time using the speaker on the car to address the Rogues.

"Move out of the way," he said firmly. "We need to pass. This is an emergency."

But even then, the Rogues didn't move out of the way. In fact, they only began to walk closer to the car. More Rogues came out of the alleyway then, and by that point there were at least ten, maybe even twenty of them blocking all exits.

"God dammit," the cop said.

Suddenly, all of the Rogues shifted at once and descended on the line of cop cars. The car shook violently as two Rogues jumped on the hood, barking and snarling. The cop and I looked at each other in shock for a moment before he radioed something that I couldn't understand to the other cops, then got out his gun and got out of the car.

Gunshots fired all through the alleyway. The Rogues and the police erupted into a violent fight. I couldn't just sit there and hope that the police would fight through the Rogues; I needed to help. I quickly jumped out and felt myself begin to shift.

As I shifted, several Rogues circled around me and began to snarl and claw at me. I clawed back with more intensity, slamming myself into their sides and sending them flying with a chorus of yelps while gunshots rang all around me. Another Rogue came, this one bigger, and bared his teeth at me.

"Who paid you?" I asked, snarling back at him.
The Rogue's voice echoed in my head.

He was laughing. "I'll never tell," he replied. "But I'll say this: it'll just be easier if you lay down and accept your fate."

I stifled my own laugh. "Like hell I will," I responded. Then, in one quick movement, I darted forward and collided with the large Rogue. We grappled on the ground for several long moments, rolling back and forth in a ball of claws and teeth. At one point, I managed to pin him to the ground and snapped my teeth at his throat.

But he got his legs under me somehow and kicked me off, throwing me back against the brick wall of a building. I felt the air get knocked out of my lungs as I got slammed into the wall, but I wasted no time in scrambling back to my feet and making another charge at him.
As I fought the Rogue, I only kept one thing in my mind: Moana's and Ella's faces. I pictured their smiles when I would come to their rescue, and that was what helped me to fight. It filled me with strength, and with one final surge of power, I managed to clamp my teeth around the Rogue's neck and throw him so hard against a wall that I heard a sickening crunch, and then he fell silent.

Around me, gunshots continued to ring out as the police fought against the remaining Rogues. With a nod to the police chief, I charged at another large Rogue and placed a deep gash in his side with my claws, causing him to fall to the ground with a whimper. Amidst all of the chaos, a few more Rogues fell to the ground as bullets pierced their flesh and fur. I shifted back just as a path was cleared, and the cops and I jumped back into the cars and sped off with a chorus of screeching tires.

I'm coming, Moana, I thought to myself as I gripped the car dashboard while the cop sped through the narrow street, knocking more Rogues out of the way with the car. I'm coming, Ella. Daddy's coming.

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