She was so close to sleep, so ready. Her mind had run over the plan again and again, until finally she found her thoughts going into random directions. Happily she had let them run free, waiting for sleep to kick in. 

Until an urgent knock ripped her straight from her sleep.

"What!?" she groaned, "It's after fucking midnight!"

The door opened, revealing nothing but black.

"It is urgent."

It was Michio. 

Ella groaned again for good measure, voice ending in a whine.

"Fuck's sake, fine come in."

She blinked the sleep away, but he was in front of her before she was fully awake. She never knew how he did that. It was cool though, but kind of alarming.

"Sit up and listen, woman."

Ah, he was pushy today. It really was urgent.

"Yes, yes." 

She sat up, looking at him expectantly.

"What is it?"

"Camille messed up."

"That happens frequently. What'd she do exactly?"

"She let Wright go..."

"Fuck, I knew it."

"...after giving away too much information. 'He' must know by now."

"...what? What did she say? How do you know?"

"You put too much faith in your friends, Ella."

Ella frowned as she tried to read the man's face. She could read nothing, as per usual. His black eyes stared into her blues, the twitch of his mouth was all that gave away his frustration.

"Well, that's what we are friends for, am I right?"

"Wrong. You have failed. Trusting your friends has been nothing but a liability. You know who we're up against, and yet you lack awareness."

Ella sat up a little straighter, fire started burning inside of her at his accusations.

"Is that so? Now why don't you do something about it? Why aren't you the leader?"

His eyes narrowed at hers, but he gave no other indication of her anger having upset him.

"I followed you merely out of curiosity. After you made enemies with my brother I thought you'd get a little bit more of a grip on reality, but it seems you're still merely human."

"Of course I'm human. What the fuck else am I supposed to be?"

"Better."

"Wow okay. Well, we can both agree on that. Now, my question still stands: why don't you do something about it?"

"I will not get involved in your squabbles with him."

A snort came from Ella at his words. She might have a very deep crush on the gloomy man, but his looking down on her did not make her stomach curl in heat. It made her stomach curl in anger, and she made it clear.

"You are already involved, Michio. Especially if what you say is true. Now is there any reason for you to come tell me this at-" she looked at the clock, "... 4 in the bloody morning?"

He just stared at her, shook his head incredulously and left, fading into the darkness of the hall,  door closing behind him with a swoosh and a slight click.

He wasn't usually so forward, deciding to stay at the side-lines most of the time, making Ella wonder how much trouble they were in really. She barely slept a wink that night.

----

The next morning she was up early. They did not have much time to waste, and the first thing she wanted to do was talk to Dan. Her head was not quite clear yet, but after Michio's message last night she felt time was of the essence. He had not told her how he knew, and what Camille told him, but she figured it was nothing good if he went out of his way to tell her. At 4. In the bloody morning.

She'd ask Camille about it later, but first she wanted to see the necklace Dan had in his possession. The moment they confirmed it's authenticity was the moment they could move on.

She knocked on his door, opened it without waiting, and found him playing on her Gameboy with tired eyes. He probably hadn't even slept, the light was still on.

At least he was enjoying her precious console.

"Hey, Dan, it's me Ella. I hope you had a good night. I'm just here to ask you a couple of questions. I hope you-"

A hand grabbed hers from the doorway, startling Ella greatly.

"Ella, we need to talk."

It was Camille. Perfect.

----

"Ella, I need to talk to you about Dan." Camille said in a hushed whisper the moment they stepped inside another room.

"You need to talk about much more than just Dan Black, Cam." Ella replied, bitterly, but let the blonde off the hook for a second. She looked haggard. "Well, go on then."

"It's about his ears..."

"So what. They were pointed. He's half elf remember."

"No, that's the thing. They seems to have been cut off. I found bruises all over his arms and legs too."

Ella's eyes widened. The information they had gathered about Dan had been clear about the fact that his stepmother did not like the bastard child very much, but she didn't know her hatred went this far. She herself wasn't strange to the abuse of a parent, but at least her dad had never laid a hand on her.

"Do you think... Do you think his parents did that?" Camille ended her question with an emotional shudder, tears pricking her eyes.

Ella just nodded.

"How could a parent just... do something like that?"

"Your idea of parents might be a bit... idealistic, Cam." Ella just replied, not wanting to upset the blonde even more. After all, she was an orphan like her. But unlike her, Cam had never met her parents, and had a rosy coloured image of what parents would be like.

Ella never felt the need to change that fantasy until now.

"Let's just go back to his room. He must be wondering what we are doing. The best thing to do now is be nice to him and stick to the plan."

Ella was ready to leave, but Camille grabbed her arm again.

"He will be fine right? You said he'd be fine? We can't just... let him get hurt again."

Ah, this again. It was understandable but annoying, since she had to keep repeating herself.

"Yes Camille, he'll be fine. As a matter of fact, we'll be helping him. Now let's go."

Probably a lie. Ella did not care much. What was one sacrifice for the greater good? It would probably be best if he got killed, that would be one less hurt soul in this rotten world. He'd be better off.

-----

"And you, James, failed... why exactly?" came a husky voice from the most hauntingly beautiful man one had ever seen. He was nonchalantly sitting on a throne, girls in different states of undress surrounding him. 

"I... I was caught, lord Namtar."

"By who, James?"

James hesitated before answering truthfully, his eyes on his daughter amongst the girls. She didn't even glance her father's way, eyes only on her lord.

"Camille Hazel, my lord."

"And does she work alone, you useless bastard? And tell me a little more. I hate having to pull this information from your mouth word for word."

"She does not work alone. Ella Owen is the leader of their little group. I heard she gained two new members who I do not know the name of, but the other member is called Matt Owen, my lord."

"And are they human, you shit?"

"Yes, my lord."

The man on the throne sighed.

"Then I ask you again: why. did. you. fail?" he had stood up, and punctuated his words by a step forward until he was in front of the cowering man at his feet.

"I was careless, lord Namtar! Please punish me, but leave my daughter be! I swear I will get the artefact if you give me one more chance!"

Nibori Namtar, the king of the night, brother of Michio Namtar, was standing still, seemingly deep in thought. At his feet was the pathetic form of dr. James Wright, a shrewd man who he had given the privilege of experimenting with Curioni blood.

He had failed him with the experiments. He had failed him with this meagre task as well.

Could the man even be useful to him in any way?

He glanced back at the man's daughter, looking at him with lustful eyes. 

She was pretty enough. 

"Fine, doctor. You get one more chance. This time I'll add another order because you've failed me so many times already, and I'm starting to lose my patience.

Get the artefact and the boy, bring him to me unharmed, and kill Camille Hazel, Ella Owen, Matt Owen, and the two unknowns. If you fail to do this..." Nibori chuckled, a deep, rich sound, that send shivers down James' spine. "...Well, I'm sure you'll know what happens."