Daegelus | Volume One: Subject 0333

Chapter Twenty-Two | Under the River

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By the time they reached the city, it was getting dark. The highway was lit by huge lampposts, and the midnight-purple sky was dotted with silver stars. The moon was almost full, and the clouds grew thicker as each moment passed.

"Looks like it's gonna rain," Jake mumbled. "Good thing we're almost there, huh?"

"I just hope Hannah's at the centre," Zoe said, stroking Enid's hair while she slept with her head on the girl's lap.

"You know her home address if she ain't, right?" the pardus asked. "Or at least have her number or something."

Zoe nodded. "Yeah."

Elijah festered in a pit of despair and dismay. He knew better than to let his despondent feelings get to him, but he couldn't help it sometimes. He'd let himself hope that Enid might be a better lead, a lead that would get him to Haru faster than going through Ronan, but she wasn't, and he felt like an idiot for believing it, even if just for a moment.

Thunder cut through the quiet, and lightning lit up the sky. Rain started falling moments later, hitting the windshield, and quickly covering the road in a sheet of water, and it swiftly sped up and became a torrential downpour.

"Frickin heck," Jake muttered as he drove off the highway. "Glad I ain't gotta drive across no country in this."

Enid flinched awake with a gasp as another boom of thunder bellowed from above. "Where?!" she panicked. "Where we are?!"

Zoe patted her head. "It's okay," she told her softly. "It's just a storm. We're in the city now."

The girl sat up and looked around. "Safe?"

"Yeah, we're safe. Don't worry."

"Just gotta follow this tunnel under the river and we'll be close to the city centre," Jake said, glancing back at them.

"I'll see my family?" Enid asked.

"You will," Zoe confirmed, smiling.

Elijah sighed quietly and leaned back in his seat, trying to get comfortable. He hoped that once they dropped Enid off, there wouldn't be anything else to slow their journey to East Coast. He just wanted to find Ronan, get Haru's location out of him, and go and find him. He'd taken long enough already.

He watched the cars pass by as Jake drove deeper into the tunnel, but when his sights met the mirror, his eyes found something that made his heart race and his instincts scream. The men in the car four cars behind them were dressed in black with veils covering their faces; their auras were distorted, and the shimmer of silver reflected off the vehicles' surfaces.

Detainers.

"We're being fucking followed," Elijah growled, shoving his angst aside and focusing on his hatred.

"W-what?" Zoe panicked—

"Don't look," the demon snapped before the girl could turn and give them away.

"Followed?" Enid cried.

"By who? Guards from the lab?" Jake asked worriedly, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"Detainers," Elijah muttered as he slowly reached into his jacket and pulled out one of his Rovinares.

"Oh, shit," the pardus muttered shakily.

"H-how did they find us?!" Zoe panicked, holding Enid in her arms as the girl whimpered.

"I don't know," Elijah snarled, ensuring his pistol was loaded. Could they have kept the jeep too long? Had Lyca Corp.'s surveillance teams already pieced together that they'd replaced the jeep's original licence plate with that of the car they'd been driving before? Had they somehow been following them since the lab? Had they followed Enid? If that was the case, though, why not attack them while they were at the motel?