I could feel cold sweat run down my back as my eyes drifted onto Lucifer's smile. It wasn't malicious or obviously scary, but something about it made alarm bells ring in my head, as if warning me that I was looking into the mouth of a beast.
"Despite how I look, I don't bite."
Hearing his chuckle, I tore my eyes away from his smile and looked into his eyes. They were like a wild beast staring at his prey. However, after I forced myself to take a deep breath to calm down, those glowing eyes disappeared behind his eyelids as his face split into an amused smile.
"Lucifer."
Hearing Joel call his name, the predator focused his eyes on another prey, and that amused smile grew wider.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just that his expression was too funny."
Standing up, Lucifer gestured for the man leading us to close the door and walked up to us.
Reaching me, he squatted down and placed a hand on top of my pale face.
"It's alright. I won't hurt you."
Applying a gentle force, Lucifer ruffled my hair. Then, in one big motion, his arms swung under me, and my whole body was lifted into his arms.
"I know all of you didn't come here to relax and play around in my territory. Come, let's sit down and talk."
I felt my body lift up into the air as Lucifer stood up and instinctively hung my arms over his neck to balance myself. Then, with me in my arms, I watched helplessly as he led us to the corner of this big hall, where several chairs were stacked on top of each other.
Taking a chair, he sat down and gestured for us to sit down with him. Maneuvering my body such that I sat on his lap, I felt a large and rough hand gently comb through my hair as his soul piercing voice echoed from above. For some reason, I suddenly wasn't as scared of him as I was before.
"So? What happened for you to come here so unexpectedly?"
Closing my eyes as Lucifer's nails scratched a really good spot, I heard Joel's clear and confident tone come from somewhere in front of me.
"The government has been cracking down on the faction more than ever before."
I opened my eyes as I heard that sentence. In front of me, Joel had a serious expression on her face. Her eyebrows were slightly narrowed, and her eyes stared straight at Lucifer. Holding her hand, Jade was discreetly rubbing his thumb on the inside of her wrist in an effort to reassure her.
"And? I'm sure your faction has already been expecting this. There's no reason for you guys to be caught off guard."
Tilting my head up, I caught Lucifer's eyebrows narrowing dangerously as he looked at Joel with unsympathetic eyes.
"I'm sure Vincent isn't stupid enough to fall for those old foxes' tricks."
Sneering, although Lucifer seemed as if he was mocking Joel, his hands remained gentle as he patted my head. However, seeing that aggressive look in his eyes, I felt my neck shrink back in shock.
Feeling my fear, Lucifer tore his eyes away from Joel and adjusted his face back into one that contained part kindness and part predator. Gently forcing my eyes away from his face, I tilted my head back to Joel's expression just in time to catch her shaking her head.
"Vincent has already been executed.'
Lucifer froze, his hand stillled on my head, as I heard a soft and almost inaudible sigh from him.
"I see. So they managed to get him as well. Who's the new leader of the faction?"
Resuming his hands, I felt those fingers separate my locks once more. However, they were lighter now, almost absentminded, as if their owner was no longer consciously controlling them.
"Mark, with James helping him."
As soon as Lucifer heard their names, I felt the hand on my head stop and a large sigh blow across the top of my head.
"So what are the faction's plans?"
Dropping the hand from my head, Lucifer placed it softly on my hips as he supported my body. Sneaking a look up at his face, I saw a tired look in his eyes as he asked that question.
"Currently, we've decided to spread this sort of rumor."
Joel retrieved her hands from Jades grip and gestured for him to hand her something. Looking a little disappointed, Jade nevertheless reached into his pocket and took out one folded research paper. Opening it, he handed it over to Joel, who passed it to Lucifer.
"This is a draft of the paper, since it hasn't been fully written and peer reviewed yet; however, the whole of High and Middle street already knows about it."
I stretched my neck to read the title of the paper as Jade passed it over to Lucifer. Seeing my struggle, I heard a small chuckle coming from above me as the paper was suddenly lowered in front of my face.
Muttering a 'thank you' to him, I glanced at the title of the paper. As expected, it was about the defense theory.
'Defense theory : MDVA as a form of self-protection'
Tilting my head to glance at Lucifer's face, I saw him raise an eyebrow at the title before narrowing his eyes as he flipped through the pages. Making a vague sound, he reached the end of that thick paper and tucked it under his arm. Then, slotting his hands underneath my armpits, he lifted me off my lap and down onto the floor as he stood up.
"It seems that the situation above is much more serious than I thought. I'll need to discuss this with my men. I'll tell you when we're done discussing, so feel free to roam around."
Lucifer smiled at us as he gestured for us to stand up and escorted us out of his house. Waving goodbye at us, I watched as the big double doors slowly closed in front of me.
"What sort of news did you give the boss for him to make a face like that?"
Hearing a voice from behind me, I turned around to see the man who led us inside the house play with his dagger. Throwing it into the air, he caught it with his hand before tossing it into the air again.
"Just some things."
Taking my hand into hers, Jole smiled at the two of them before leading us away from Lucifer's house. Making a vague sound in response, the man didn't continue to inquire further and turned silent.
Walking away from the large house, Joel led the six of us left and slightly 'up' Bottom street. We passed the large and pristine mansions and walked all the way until we reached the clean and uniform apartment buildings. Leading us near one of the apartment buildings, Joel swung her head left and right as if she were searching for someone.
Beside Joel, Jade was holding onto Linel and Oliver with a straight face. On his right, Oliver had one hand caged inside Jade's, while the other hand was holding some papers right up to his eyes. When he wanted to flip a page, he would lower that hand to the height of the other one and use the captured hand to hold onto the paper as he flipped it.
On Jade's left, Linel was looking around curiously. Spotting my gaze, he smiled as he took a step forward to come closer to me.
"I didn't know Bottom street was like this."
Lowering his voice, he whispered to me, and I nodded my head enthusiastically in agreement.
"I also didn't know. I've only ever lived in Top Bottom street before moving to Bottom Middle street, so I thought that Middle Bottom street and Bottom Bottom street would be worse. However, looking at the state of things, it certainly looks better than Bottom Middle street."
I gestured to the apartment buildings flanking both sides of the path. They were all uniform in design, with clean white walls and minimal dirt. The chips and cracks at several places showed their age; however, because the buildings were so well-maintained, they looked as if they were new with just a quick glance.
"That's because this is Lucifer's territory. A lot of Bottom street isn't like this."
Hearing Oliver's voice, we turned our heads to see him keeping his papers under his arm as he stepped forward to join us.
"You know Bottom street?"
Beside me, Frank asked as he looked at Oliver with wide and curious eyes.
"My sister and I used to live in Bottom street. About a little more than 2 years ago."
Showing a nostalgic and sad smile, Oliver continued to speak in a barely audible voice.
"It was during that time that Alex took me and ran away from that house in Top Bottom street. At that time, we didn't have enough money to buy a house, so we slept on the streets for a couple weeks. It was during that time that we were picked up by two very sweet people. Unfortunately ..."
Trailing off, the smile slid off his face as a cold and indifferent expression replaced it. Then, shaking his head, he put back his smile as he continued.
"Unfortunately, my sister was then diagnosed with MDVA. Fortunately, Andrew managed to stop the euthanasia before it happened and adopted the two of us."
As we listened to his story, Frank's face turned more horrified, and he stretched out his free hand to cover Oliver's hand.
"I'm sorry for asking."
He gave a sympathetic smile, and Oliver shook his head to show that he didn't mind Frank asking.
"If I really didn't want to say it, then I wouldn't talk about it. It's just that sometimes I miss her."
Falling into a solemn silence, the four of us avoided each other's eyes as we tilted our heads down. My eyes were staring at my shoes, but in my mind's eye, I could see Leo's sweet smile as he held my hand. Clenching my fist, I could almost feel his warmth.
"Joel!"
Like a hammer breaking through ice, an energetic voice suddenly smashed through the thick silence surrounding our small group, and we all shot our heads in the direction the voice came from. Waving at Joel with a big smile, a woman wearing a short dress was running down the stairs of one of the apartment buildings.
Skipping the last couple of steps with a leap, she landed on her feet with a small thump and immediately took off towards us. Eyes locked onto Joel, Joel barely managed to let go of Frank and my hands to give a small wave before the woman launched herself into Joel's arms, a charming laugh coming out of her lips as she gave Joel a warm hug.
"Joel! It's good to see you again!"
With a helpless smile, Joel wrapped her arms around the woman and gave a slightly happy sigh.
"You too, Chris."