(Updates everyday)
Power demands what it's owed, and souls are its favorite currency.
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When museum curator, Lena Goodwin, receives an anonymous package containing damning evidence of a mistake she thought she buried years ago, her carefully built...
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At exactly 6:45 P.M., Lena stood outside Raven's Perch, a café that sold more than just coffee and baked goods. The shop was only a front, which was exactly why Hugh had chosen this place for them to meet - a shifty business for a shifty interaction.
She paused at the door, likely running through her options and finding fault in every single one. None could guarantee that he would keep her secret, and if she didn't agree to his terms, then he certainly had no intentions of doing so.
He didn't care about her career, of destroying it. All he had on his mind was the Astralis Codex.
It was an ancient artifact, old enough that only a select few knew of the power it wielded, but even those knowledgeable were far too incoherent to give him any solid answers. The Codex had driven them to insanity. The only thing he had to rely on was choppy information he hadn't been able to piece together yet. They didn't provide him with nearly as much concrete details aside from confirming some rumors he had heard being whispered on the black market.
So, Hugh had to resort to even more illegal methods. As unreliable as Lena might prove to be, he was limited on choices. At the very least, she had come in contact with the Codex. Plus, her desperation for him to keep her secret would come in handy. He had a good feeling about that.
He carefully observed her. She had been outside for a few minutes. Her hair had taken on a deeper shade of red since those photos were taken, and those overly average lips of hers were pulled into a thin line.
When he glimpsed at his wristwatch, made of full-grain black leather, the kind hard to come by, there was still time for her to leave. She could turn away, pretend it all had never happened, and run, but she had worked tooth-and-nail to obtain her current position at the museum.
There was also the fact that Hugh wouldn't give up easily. He would find her again. He would always be able to no matter where she went.
Finally, after another short moment, she pushed the door open.
Raven's Perch was dimly lit and smelled of stale coffee and cigarette smoke, a familiar scent that Hugh found oddly soothing in his line of work. There was a low hum of conversations taking place, blended in with soft clinks of spoons stirring against ceramic mugs.
It was decorated with strangely shaped furniture and decor. Like the rest of the architecture in Eden City, it was dark and grunge-like, violet solarae lined the pavements outside and within every jagged building. They were less harmful to the eyes, but with that came an easiness to slip in and out of shadows unnoticed.
For someone like Hugh, it was perfect, so long as he stuck to his black attire.
Lena's gaze searched the expanse of the café until they landed on him sitting at a corner table, almost out of sight from any onlookers. He was far enough away that none of them would be able to eavesdrop on their to-be private conversation, but close to ensure Lena would behave. She had quite the temper when provoked, and what he planned to do would only coax it out.
