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Ceres walked down the hall with her thralls before her and Isabelle close behind. Edgar took up the rear, his senses heightened. He didn't know what to expect. He scanned the building around him with his scent and his hearing, and discovered nothing, though this did not mean there was nothing to be discovered. However, without a direct and uninterrupted conversation with Ceres, the best he could do was be prepared for any situation.

Humans rarely acted alone, unless alone was in the best interest of the actor. Thus Edgar assumed their prisoner--the one they left in the room behind them--had friends among the humans they were heading to meet. He anticipated violence, whether it was direct aggravation or an attempt to free them prisoner, and was prepared to act in defense of Isabelle and himself. Where Ceres was concerned, well, he remained unsure of her loyalties.

Isabelle, on the other hand, found it hard to focus on anything but Ceres. Their union had come to a brief end when she was put to sleep, but sleep has the interesting property that the time spent sleeping isn't felt; to Isabelle, her departure from Ceres had lasted as long as she had been awake, which was only a matter of hours. Long hours, certainly, but hours nonetheless.

Ceres brought them to a room at the other end of the hall, where a large group of humans were huddled together, sitting silently. Three humans rose upon their entry, directing their attention to Ceres. Ceres explained the situation regarding Marcello, and challenged anyone in the room to speak up about it. No one so much as raised an eyebrow. Edgar felt more confident in the response: either there would be no direct assault, and instead they might contend with a covert attempt at rescue, or there were no friends of the prisoner among these people. He hoped for everyone's sake, it was the latter.

Ceres explained to those humans who held with her the presence of Edgar and Isabelle, assuring them greater assistance in their attempts to cross the city. When the conversation finished, she beckoned them to collect their belongings and begin preparing everyone for the next move. This was followed by a great amount of shuffling as everyone began standing. Edgar watched as the three humans moved away from Ceres, who turned around and addressed he and Isabelle.

"We can't talk yet. We have to move to the next safe zone before the sun rises."

Annoyed, but not impatient, Edgar asked Ceres about where they were moving.

"There's another building a few blocks down that provides some cover." Ceres sounded nervous, which was concerning to Edgar. "Most of these buildings have been hollowed out by them in search of humans. I'll explain more when we arrive. We don't have much time now."

The three humans approached Ceres to inform her of the group's readiness. Edgar looked around and saw everyone looking expectantly at them. These people were nothing short of efficient. Perhaps survival in these times forced them to become so. Without explanation, Ceres gestured the people to follow her, extending the gesture to Isabelle and Edgar. She slipped out the door and proceeded down the hall; Isabelle and Edgar waited until the humans had exited before following as well.

They returned to the stairwell from earlier and began to descend. It was only a few flights before they arrived at the ground floor, but Ceres continued down, exiting the building when they arrived at the second parking sub-level. One of her thralls held the door open while everyone filed through, then jogged to catch up with Ceres and the thralls. The door slammed behind them, echoing across the empty structure. The people moved across the asphalt in silence, the echoes of the door careening all around them. If not for his heightened sense of hearing, Edgar thought he would not have heard these humans at all.

Continued after the break

The group walked up the ramp to the first sub-level, and then paused on their approach to the ramp rising to street-level. Ceres moved on ahead, her thralls remaining with the humans. Edgar gestured to Isabelle to follow, and moved to intercept Ceres, who gestured to them to remain silent. Together, they moved to one side of the ramp and approached the street with care.

"Those things that were zipping around last night, we call those 'Seekers,'" said Ceres. "They have heat and aural sensors, aimed at detecting humans."

Isabelle tilted her head. Her helmet kept the others from seeing her confused expression.

"Why are they after humans?" Isabelle tried to keep her voice low.

"More importantly, who's operating them?" Edgar was intent on understanding the danger. If a vampire as powerful as Ceres was taking these kinds of precautions, whatever was out there on the hunt must be a worthy adversary.

"I'll show you when we arrive at the next spot," said Ceres. "Right now, we have a very tight window: the Seekers are being called in. Soon, those others will begin patrolling and searching, and they are far more troublesome than the Seekers."

"'Those others,'" said Edgar. "Do 'those others' have a name?"

"If they do, I have no idea."

Edgar grunted. This was too little information and he knew not what to do with it but play along.

Ceres turned around and waved to the humans to approach. The group approached in silence. Ceres separated them into three groups, placing a thrall in charge of each and requesting Edgar and Isabelle to each take up the rear of a different group.

"Just like yesterday morning," said Ceres, "we move silent and swift. Don't dally; don't fall behind; and most important, don't call out to each other."

The humans all nodded in agreement. She gave directed the first group to follow, and then sprinted across the street. The small group ran close behind, cutting close to the building there and hugging the walls at the corner. They were gone in a flash. The thrall assigned to the second group tapped on Edgar's arm and indicated it was their turn. He nodded to Isabelle to take up the rear, then watched as the thrall, the humans, and Isabelle took off at a similar clip. He then moved to the rear of the third group.

The thrall at the head of the third group sought out Edgar with his gaze. Edgar nodded to acknowledge he was paying attention, and then they were off, the humans fast on the move, with Edgar close behind. They pressed themselves close to the approaching building, hugged the corner, and then kept up a strenuous pace for two blocks, where they entered a subway station. The gates were torn down and thrown aside, allowing the group to pour into the station without hindrance. Once Edgar was off the stair and through the first set of gates, the thrall relaxed the pace for the group, though they remained moving at fast walking clip. No one said a word.

The group crossed the platform in silence, walked through the gates on the other side, and climbed the stair leading back to the street level. At the top, they picked up the pace once again, sprinting to the end of the street where they began to cross diagonally over the intersection. Edgar noticed Isabelle duck into a door on the corner as it came in to view. The thrall at the head of their group was close behind her.

Once inside, they poured into a stairwell and began climbing for several floors. Ceres held the door for the third group when it was time to exit the stair; Isabelle was waiting just on the other side of the door. Ceres closed the door behind him as Edgar passed through, then took the lead to show them where they would spend the day.

"I don't why," Ceres said, by of beginning an explanation, "but we have very limited time in the morning to cross the city. We'll have lots more time in the evening, once the sun begins to set."

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