Once back on the surface, Silas found a silent moment in the empty street outside the entrance to the Dark Markets. Sky at his side, she waited. 

Without a lead to follow beyond Victor’s warnings of Faust coming to him, there was nothing to do but wait. Silas was putting to the back of his mind Yona’s lead to the Archives. He would avoid going there if he could. 

“Rathanael doesn’t give up,” Sky commented as Silas contemplated his options. 

“Mmm,” The Collector agreed, although his thoughts were elsewhere. 

"A penny for your thoughts?” Sky asked, drawing close to her Keeper lost in thought. Without warning, he gave her an answer through silence and then sudden movement. 

Into the nearest building and to the top floor. A flight of stairs to the roof where the Collector surveyed the city's horizon, crumbling in his cursed sight. 

His prey would come to him. The warnings of the Gypsy vampire was a macabre puzzle.

Others passed in the half lit street below. Black ants following dim glowing amber paths. Sky peered over the edge; sometimes standing, other times sitting or floating, not worried in the least of the height at which they now stood.

"Those whom your Silas seeks watch this one and my Sky. Even now, there are eyes that reach from the darkness."

"How? We've only just begun." Sky said, listing to his side in a drift on the breeze. The chains moved through the air with the grace of a serpent. By the Collector's will, the metal was alive swimming with Sky and his thoughts. 

Silas' flared his nostrils with an exhaling breath. He himself could not answer the question of how. It was a feeling. 

Faust would come to them. 

Looking out across the city, his thoughts drifted from Sky and as result, her attention began to shift from the task at hand to the rest of the roof. Naturally curious, ghosts spent a majority of their time floating between realms, searching their surroundings for traces of life they could consume. It was a habit Sky could not shake. 

With piping and loft outcroppings, the roof was far from flat with dozens of corners, nooks and overhangs. Rising steam from release pipes and dancing shadows against the dim light of the night. Away from Silas she swam to a broken air conditioning unit that sat as a broken metal box on the roof. Sitting, she waited, watching quietly the back of Silas on the roof's edge and the floating chains that connected them. Kicking her legs back and forth in wait, she looked past him to the flickering lights of the city and the dark skyline beyond.

Then a ruffle of movement from behind.

Instinct to know. Sky leaned back as far as she could go. Her head pivoted backwards to be upside down over the broken metal unit on which she sat, looking for the origin of the sound. With just the twist of her hand against metal, her entire body turned as a flowing white in the air facing away from Silas.

Again, there was movement.

Over the air conditioner's remains, looking down over its other side and across the building's roof. Inwardly, Sky was hoping for the wayward life of some rodent. A light snack. 

Moving shadow, different than the billowing smoke. A defined line in the dark, disappearing further across the roof, behind a large boxed vent. There was still plenty of slack left in the chains to allow further investigation in her playful hunt. Silas would stare over the edge for hours if Sky said nothing. 

With another push of her arms to propel her weightless form forward through the air, Sky was the perfect predator. Even more so than Silas as her every movement was dead silent.

To the vent's corner, Sky playfully pounced around its edge, ready to corner any small creature but there was nothing. Confused, her shoulders fell and her excitement drained from her.

She was certain there had been something there. The vibration had been distinct but it vanished. 

Rising up, Sky cast a look back over her shoulder to see Silas still where she left him on the roof's edge.

Dawn on the horizon was not far off.

Sunrise would draw tens of thousands of crows and ravens across the sky. The birds that flew from the world of the living into death at dawn and dusk, delivering souls to either Hell or Heaven. Crossing through the world of the Others on their way to the world of the Fallen and Divine. In the thousands they travelled through the worlds on black wings.

Without warning, from the empty air came a loud cawing that jarred Silas from his distracted thoughts. The movements of the Collector and ghost were mirrored as they turned simultaneously towards the sound, Silas on the ledge and Sky floating several dozen steps from him. 

The vibration had returned. 

As if appeared from thin air, perched on a railing within reach of Sky was a raven. It blinked, cocking its head towards the ghost. Its sight focused on her.

The bird was alone, which was odd in itself, Sky assuming it was one of the first birds to appear from the great murder that would soon take flight across the sky. It flapped and readjusted its wings, letting out another bellowing caw. Its penetrating voice didn't deter the ghost who now held out her hands to beckon the black feathered corvid closer.

Just a taste...

The creature's shrill voice cried out again, this time louder than before, an obvious protest to the spectre drawing nearer. Meanwhile, the Collector who only had a split moment to zero in on the raven in his sights had little time to object as Sky's weightless figure shot forward after it. 

The black bird leapt from its perch and took to the air. Stray feathers flying free from the animal's fluster in escaping the ghost woman who gave chase. Sky could most certainly rip its soul from its body if she so desired. And she desired. Desperately. So much so that she forgot Silas and the world melted into her hunger for the bird's soul.

Using the railing as a springboard, Sky leapt up towards the raven circling in mid air as fast as it could in an effort to get away from her.

Before a command to cease could leave his cold lips, the bird doubled back towards the Collector, catching him by surprise. Another loud caw, diving for Silas' face while Sky, in feral pursuit, was right behind it. Lifting his long arms to stop the bird's open claws, the raven cunningly veered away, leaving Sky on a direct crash course with the Collector.

All of Sky's strength hit Silas square in the chest. Sending his balance back over the precipice of the roof's edge. He lost his footing and his entire body grew light against his will. His eyes caught hers and the look in them. The hunger was rearing its ugly head at the worst of times. The raven was no longer a target, as the realization of her slip returned. The vibration sent through the chains was enough to snap the ghost girl back to reality.

Silence stole her voice as the horror of what she had done hit her. Silas, on the other hand, never felt any fear. In what was a split second reaction, the sigil on his hand burned. His hand caught the ledge, leaving his black height to dangle by a vice-like grip from another stone outcropping feet below the roof's ledge.

"Silas!" She was above his head, her voice in panic. Peering down at him from the ledge, her hands held tight onto the one that held the roof. Her effort made little difference as despite being able to interact with physical objects, it was not to the extent of holding up the weight of an adult human. 

"I-I don't know why I..." Her words trailed off. 

Knowing very well why and never blaming her for it, with his will over the links, the chains churned. With the hand that held them, free from the ledge, the Collector whipped the metal upwards. Using them as leverage, he was able to shift his weight so that he could lift himself up.

Back on his feet, Sky grabbed hold of his hand and pressed the back of it to her forehead.

"I'm so sorry." She apologized again. Her Collector acknowledged her with a brush of his hand gentle against her cheek but his attention was again elsewhere. Standing to his full height once more, Silas' black gaze was zeroed in sharply on the form of a stranger that had now appeared on the roof near where the raven was once again perched. Leaning against the railing, a young man in a simple long black shirt and pants. His clothes and short hair were accented by dark feathers. His blue eyes round, he stared back into Silas’ gaze with  deranged delight.

"If you fell to your death, would she be dragged to Hell with you?" The young man clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He laughed again, a caw in its resonance while the raven perched near let out another shrill cry.

Silas' shadow roared and his stone expression never changed, the chains whipping to the side in a show of emotion that Silas himself could never express. 

Sky floated back and away from the shadows that began to envelope him, giving space to her Collector and his power. The mark upon the Collector's palm burned, his fingers curling into talons. He stepped towards the Youth while the chains gave Sky the command to stay where she was. All named by Lucifer would be marked and collected. 

The raven again took to the air while the Youth didn't move. His smile never faded.

The Collector dwarfed the young man’s height. Trudging forward, Silas reached out to grab the youth when the young man's body suddenly disappeared in a flurry of feathers, swirling back into the form of a crow to join the raven circling in the air. Both flew back and away from Collector's approach. A small distance visibly grew between him and Sky as Silas stepped further across the roof.

In a turn the crow and raven landed between the ghost and the Collector with enough space between them that the birds could fly off again before ever getting caught. Cawing, they mocked Silas and Sky, jeering at their failure to catch them. 

And soon, the voices of other crows rang out in chorus, a growing cacophony of cawing. One came quickly to perch near its companions. Then another and then one more.

Five in total. Four crows and one raven. 

In a flurry molting plumage, four crows changed their form, shapeshifting to human. The Youth returned, alongside a boy, a woman and a man, all dressed in black clothing, adorned with black feathers.

The four positioned between the Collector and the ghost. The chains lying on the ground, a tether between them.

"You wanted to find us." The young man stated, the woman and the boy snickering while the man remained silent, his eyes on Silas. "So, we came as you called. He has been eager to meet you. Of course, we all have, but he, the most."

He.

More feathers molted from their bodies.

The raven, unlike the others, hadn't changed. It took to the air, circling above before spiraling down in a smooth glide toward the further edge of the building beyond the group. To the one that was now standing there.