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[Updates Every Monday & Friday]
• Book 1 of the Daegelus series •
While hunting for his missing friend, Elijah stumbles upon a fiery journalist, who so happens to be looking for the same people as him: the doctors who experiment...
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Warren was much more unpleasant than Quinn. The man's dealership was full of scrap and junk that somehow managed to drive; the place reeked of damp and rust, and just like the information broker, he tried to squeeze Elijah for more.
But the demon convinced him into loaning him a vehicle that didn't look like it had been in several accidents—and off the books, of course. Warren evidently valued his life more than his precious black muscle car.
Jake drove out of Dawnward and towards East Coast. Once they left the city, Nefastus' landscape was actually quite beautiful. Fields of grass and flowers spread for miles, meeting towering mountains on the horizon. The sky was much clearer, too, and when Elijah gazed at the clouds, he could see the faint silhouette of the skyfish swimming above.
"I smell rain," Jake said as he turned onto a forest highway.
Elijah stopped watching the sky and stared ahead. "Don't tell me you want to get out and bathe in it," he muttered.
Jake scoffed amusedly. "I'm a muto pardus, dude. I avoid water like poison."
"I can tell."
"You don't stink, Jake," Zoe mumbled from the back seat. "Don't listen to him."
"Nah, I kinda do, ain't gonna lie," Jake laughed.
They fell silent, driving down the empty country roads. Elijah turned his attention to the world outside his window; he watched an arieto graze in the woods, and as the storm clouds grew larger, thunder rumbled in the distance.
Jake glanced at Elijah when he drove onto a highway. "So...what's the story behind Lyca Corp. taking you?"
Zoe sighed quietly.
Elijah didn't answer. He didn't want to have to think about any of it.
"Did they like...just turn up at your house or...."
The demon closed his eyes and exhaled deeply, trying his best to keep his mind focused on what was outside.
"It's just Zoe said that she heard you saying how they take kids, but then the Doctor Harris guy said that all their subjects were given to Lyca Corp. willingly, and—"
Elijah sharply turned his head and glared at him. "I'm only going to tell you to stop once," he growled as dismay began enthralling his heart. The memories tried oozing into his mind, but he did his best to fight them.
"Sorry," Jake said.
The demon glowered at the road ahead. But no matter what he set his eyes on—no matter what he tried to distract himself with—all he could think about was the morning his father gave him up.
Elijah clenched his fists and jaw; he remembered begging...crying, and desperately asking his father for a reason. But that man let those detainers take him like he was some sort of stray dog that he couldn't take care of. And still to this day, Elijah didn't understand why his father didn't want him.
