Axel blinked at Anne. "Hey, it's your apartment. Go ahead." Looking at the others, his tail flicked uncomfortably. "I'm, ah... I'm sorry we didn't tell you before. About, you know, her son. We just... we didn't know if maybe you wouldn't want us around if you found out we had another reason. But you're right. When Vergil and Triste did their own thing... it was stupid. So no more secrets," he said, nodding at Lily and nudging Soren's shoulder.
Leaning next to him, Axel rubbed a hand across his ear - it was still slightly bent from one of Hania's blows. "Alright. A plan. Well, has anyone actually heard from Vergil? If we're going to keep going on this mission, the sooner we leave the better."
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As they walked back, Triste frowned at Flora as she bounced along, leading the way back to the warehouse. She glanced sideways at the scruffy looking boy following nearby... although he seemed to be keeping his distance from her. "Right now, I think the best way she could repay me is by keeping quiet."
Rio scowled at her. "You were going to stick a knife in my fucking neck." He pointed at the side of his throat. "There's still a mark!"
Triste shrugged. "It just seemed like it was going that way. Nothing personal."
Shooting a glare her way, Rio picked up his pace, hurrying to join Flora's side. "Bitch."
A short while later, the grubby looking warehouse loomed up before Triste as they neared the entrance. They stepped through the front, and the pungent odour of rotting flesh forced itself into her nostrils. She glanced around the large, dark room but couldn't see what was causing the smell. She could see the silhouette of a couch, a mass of computers... "Nice place you have here," she said dryly over her shoulder.
Ignoring her, Rio walked over to the light switch next to the door and flipped it. Above them , the handful of bare bulbs flickered on, bathing the room in their dull glow. Hal's severed head was revealed, facing away from them.
Triste tilted her head. "Friend of yours?"
Rio swallowed, looking purposefully away from it. "He was nailed up on the door when we got here."
"And he decided to roll his way over there?"
"No, Foley was just kind of... angry when he left," Rio said, glancing at Flora.
Triste walked up to the head and knelt by it, ignoring the smell. "He's rotting pretty well," she noted. "He's been dead for a few days." Leaning over, she saw the flesh around the neck was ragged. "This was messy. Not a clean cut. So whoever did this, they either didn't know what they were doing... or they wanted him to feel it." Triste shrugged. Beyond hinting at the character of the person responsible, there was nothing else the head could tell her. "Where were you when you woke up?" she asked Rio, getting to her feet.
"Uh, just over there," Rio pointed to the couch on the far end of the room. "But I don't think they left anything there," he said as they headed over for a closer look. "All they did was write on me and take my clothes for some reason."
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After a few more steps, William found what he was looking for. Tire tracks, the ground broken up, branches damaged. They'd been through this way, and they were heading... William focused his vision, and his surroundings snapped into a clarity far beyond normal human levels, every detail become abnormally clear. The path the intruder had cut through these trees had been messy, uneven. So the tires had still been shredded by this point - but when he's listened out for the sounds of the engine, it hadn't sounded like the driver was struggling for control. He must have found time to change the tires... William raised his eyes and followed the path that the vehicle had taken. It continued on for a time, then cut to the left.
William knew that in that direction a road led first away from the castle, then looped around, heading further into the forest. He hadn't heard any of his... surprises being activated yet, so chances were the intruder had found the road, and was now following it. If he was in a functioning car, on the road, then William knew even he wouldn't be able to catch him on foot. But he could be waiting when he returned.
As William turned to head back to the outskirts of the woods surrounding the castle, the wind started to die down, and the sounds of the forest became even clearer, more crisp. William smiled. The forest knew it belonged to him, and it would tell him everything he needed to know to hunt his prey.
