September 5th, 2014

Gaius was on a bus headed for the next town over. There were only a handful of people, but he still kept to himself near the back, where nobody would bother him. It would be a long bus ride, but had hastily photocopied some documents to review on the way there, so he didn't have to worry about lost time.

Charlotte was dealing with an unexpected but important task of helping a rather dubious man with some family matters. Her father had been staying with his former employer long term, but they needed to know why before trying to get him out of there. He had been asked to review what he can for any leads on what exactly is going on with Sinclair, and the sooner this business with Charlotte and Eclipse was all sorted out, the sooner he could forget about all of it.

Officially, Blair had been cremated, so I have taken as many samples as I could for preservation proposes before her body is discovered. I am certain that the body will be destroyed with prejudice once discovered but that should not matter. I will have to come forward eventually, but it's best to keep this private during the early stages of this project.

Gaius immediately wanted to stop reading. Is this what Gaius thinks this is? Well, he was told to leave no stone unturned. And if it isn't important to the investigation, he can always simply pretend he never read it. He made a mental note to look into this "Blair" figure either way.

The fetus is showing typical signs of vampirism at the eleventh week. This will complicate things during and after after birth, but everything leading up to that should be quite predictable. The surrogate remains strong, despite the complications. She was told that this was the first pregnancy of its kind, and there would be complications, and that’s all she needs to know.

The child is developing faster than anticipated. We were able to save the baby at only two weeks premature. As predicted, the issue of the mother has resolved itself. She was declared dead in the intensive care unit last night.

Gaius had to take a brief break as his stomach started churning. So far, all he's really learned is just how little regard Sinclair had for others. He folded up the paper and tucked it away, he'll decide what to do later.

He stared out the window for about ten minutes, overwhelmed with current events. He would never go back to Hikari's lab, but he had to admit that the outside world had become overwhelming. He wondered just how easy it would be to hide himself away as soon as he could, and just where he could go after this.

Those daydreams were interrupted by a dress heel nearly slamming down on his crotch. He pulled himself away just in time, and looked up to see a small and familiar looking woman wearing a romper and a hairclip. Didn't he give that to her? Why is she still wearing it?

"Don't you know that it's rude to sit with your legs open on public transportation?" Hikari mocked while leaning in suggestively. While her smile was typically inscrutable, there was an undeniable hint of malice this time.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to harass someone minding their own damn business?” Gaius hissed while awkwardly trying to stand up.

Each of them took stock of the state the other one was in. Gaius had picked up on the subtle signs that she was not on top form that he learned to watch out for; her eyes were slightly sunken in and slightly puffy, presumably from a lack of sleep. Hher skin was a bit pale, which usually means that she hadn't been taking care of herself again. She had most likely started skipping meals. Good, that means that he might have a bit of a chance of getting out of this.

“You’ve never been capable of minding your own business.” Hikari noticed that he's already gained a bit of weight and cleaned himself up since escaping, but why is he still wearing that uniform from the labs? Was it because it was a magic insulator? No, Gaius has never been that great at strategizing. He always had strange coping mechanisms when he was stressed out.

"Months locked away from the outside world tends to change you." Should he be bringing that up in public? People are already watching them. Well, if she's here to take him back, then he's got nothing to lose by not speaking his mind.

"Well then, a few years in the labs should be enough to straighten out your horrible attitude." Hikari smirked. "I'll thank Charlotte for babysitting you for a few days for me."

Wait, was she referring to Charlotte on a first name basis? Gaius opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Hikari swiftly withdrawing a knife and pointing it at his gut. He couldn't get a good look, but he knew which one it was. Her brother kept a bone dagger on his desk. Gaius wasn't sure if it had ever actually been used, but simply keeping a mage weapon of that nature on hand was enough to intimidate visitors.

He had one chance to save himself, and he had to think fast. There wasn’t much he could do without triggering an immediate counterattack, but she was very close to him, and he had a height advantage. Gaius quickly snapped his head forward, bashing his forehead against hers. She stepped back and reached for her forehead with her free hand, but made sure not to drop the knife.

One or two of them started recording, but he couldn’t afford to care about that now. He tried to follow up by reaching for the knife, but Hikari responded by slashing at his hand. He grunted as The unnaturally hot blade sliced through his sleeve and glove.

“You were always useless in a fight. Stop embarrassing yourself and come quietly.” Hikari held her dagger at the ready, in case he tried to strike again. Instead, Gaius discreetly took in his surroundings, and ducked to the side and grabbed the pull cord. As long as the bus driver actually stops, he can get off and make his escape. He just had to buy himself five minutes of time. Hikari swiped as his back, but didn’t actually break the skin this time, only getting through his coat and undershirt.

She quickly followed up by attempting to stab the slit she just exposed, but Gaius turned just in time, and swept her leg in the process. Hikari caught Gaius on the way down, tackling him and pinning him underneath her.

He struggled as she straddled him and pinned his chest with her free hand. Hikari leaned forward again, this time getting as uncomfortably close to his face as she could. “You can stop struggling now. You’re not getting out of this one.”

Gaius simply snarled, and pushed all of his body weight towards the side, attempting to roll over and pin her down. Hikari responded by jamming her knife into his lung. He made some gurgling noises, but no blood actually came up before it all ended.

The rest of the bus was still watching and still recording. Nobody dared to move as she closed his eyes and picked him up, carrying him out at the next stop. She had gotten her prized subject back, and the natural world got a small reminder of what she could do, so it was a banner day, overall.

She thought about her course of action from here. Looking at her phone, she had a fifteen minute walk back to where she originally parked. Hikari almost regretted coming alone, but taking a walk was easier than trying to explain this. She used her magic to attempt to put Gaius’s body on ice, tied his hands and feet with some magically enhanced scarves, and then started hauling him in the general direction of her car.

She knew what was likely coming next, and despite her attempts to slow the process, Gaius’s body started creaking and snapping about five minutes in. Outwardly, he still appeared lifeless, but she quickly set his body down against the nearest stop sign, tying him to that spot. His wounds began healing and closing up as his body twitched violently. The gruesome display took ten whole minutes, but it was the middle of the day, and nobody was around to witness this.

Gaius opened his eyes and took a gasp of air. He didn’t even bother to get his bearings before immediately going into a state of panic and struggling against his restraints. Hikari smiled and shook her head at the sight.

“Will you calm down? This isn’t the first time you’ve come back from the dead, just the first time we’ve both been able to confirm it.” Hikari kept her distance, just as an added precaution.

No response. Instead, Gaius began backing away. He wasn’t thinking about much right now, but he knew that if he stayed here, she would do much worse. He saw only one option, and immediately ran as fast as he could. He used all of his strength and magic to struggle against his restraints, but to no avail.

"If you continue like this, you're going to pass out." Hikari noted smugly. "You just used your magic to come back from the dead. But it's a small price, really. You're now the only known tier two immortal. If course, I'll find a way to dismantle you, but isn't it great that you have your life for such a landmark achievement?"

"I'm not dying. And when I get out of here, I swear-"

Hikari forcefully planted her heel into the same place she just stabbed him. It was almost certainly healed, but it was a good reminder that she had bested him.

"Now, there's an ice cooler in my trunk. I have to clean up a few loose ends, but you'll behave yourself in the meantime, right? Not that you have a choice.

Hikari expected some sort of clever comeback, but it looked like he had, in fact, passed out from overexertion. She was almost giddy when she was loading him up. She had created a new race of immortals, and now she just needed to get rid of this nuisance and replicate the experiment. And she knew exactly what to do next. She just needed to pick up that foolish healer first.

This town hall meeting was much smaller than the last, and with much fewer people. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it was just James debriefing a handful of staff members, and almost nobody listening.

Alex was engrossed in a text conversation, and his face was rapidly changing from excitement to worry and then back again. Ray, on the other hand, had the volume off on his phone while watching a recently uploaded video. He had expected an entertaining curb stomp battle between mages, but was that the director of Eclipse? How unbecoming of her, but he wasn't shocked.

Ray was fairly certain that loser she just stabbed was her husband. Could you even show that on social media? Well, it was definitely interesting, at least.