True Incubus: The Demon with No Limits

”Did we get anything?”

”No.”

”Nothing?”

Lucian frowned.

”They were transferred to the Enclave interrogation wing, containment is complete. Interrogation has begun, but meaningful information will take time.”

”How much time?”

”About four weeks.”

Alaric answered directly and Lucian’s expression changed.

Four weeks...

He did not like that.

”Evelyn’s concert is in two.”

”I know.”

Alaric nodded and Lucian’s face changed.

This was the reason he did what he did in the first place.

When they attacked today, when they used the crowd as cover, Lucian instantly understood how difficult it was to manage a crowded situation, especially once the crowd started to panic.

It messed with his senses, making it impossible to sense any odd movements, even back then, he could only trust his senses after he took Evelyn away from the crowd.

And this was only when the crowd was limited.

These were only people who heard the news last minute and appeared to see her.

But a concert was far worse.

There would be way too many people there for their team to be able to keep track of all of them.

It would be... very dangerous.

This was why Lucian wanted to capture the Hosts, learn who was behind the attack and deal with it for good before the concert.

But...

That didn’t seem possible now.

”We captured two Fifth Veil Hosts and six wolves, how is it still taking four weeks?”

Lucian couldn’t understand, Alaric however, answered with the same calm as always.

”Because supernatural entities are not common criminals.

Hosts above Third Veil usually have layered resistance. Pain conditioning, memory locks, false confession triggers, contract-backed silence, demonic backlash, and in some cases, self-destruction seals. If we break them incorrectly, we may lose the prisoner or receive corrupted information.

It takes time to move past it all and get the information we desire.”

Lucian lowered his head at those words.

He felt helpless...

Especially since he had no clue how the interrogation actually worked.

”We need to be careful on the day of the concert.”

He spoke with a serious look on his face.

”We already planned for that.”

”We need to plan more.”

”We will.”

Alaric nodded.

Lucian was silent for a moment.

”Can we postpone it?”

He suddenly asked.

”No.”

Alaric shook his head.

”Why?”

”The venue is booked, tickets are sold. Public cancellation would create more questions, especially after today’s attack. It is also concert season, the venue has no open dates for months. Even the date we got now was only because of Starling’s name.”

”Evelyn’s safety is more important than a venue schedule.”

Lucian countered.

”It is.”

”Then cancel it.”

”If we cancel without a clean public reason, we create panic, financial damage, media pressure, and movement instability. Miss Starling’s team would be forced into weeks of rescheduling, public appearances, interviews, explanations, and alternate travel. That creates more openings, not fewer.”

Lucian turned silent.

Alaric continued.

”The current date is controlled, the venue is known, the security routes are ours, the staff can be screened, the layout can be fortified. That is better than months of unpredictable movement.

Don’t forget, four weeks is only an estimate, we still do not know whether the Hosts we captured even have the information we want or not.”

Lucian clenched his jaw, not liking their position at all.

In the end, however, he sighed and—

”I understand, Commander.”

Alaric nodded, then, he grabbed a file placed on his table and started reading it, almost as if he was dismissing Lucian.

”Report to Clara at five.”

”In the morning?”

Lucian blinked.

”Yes.”

”I fought werewolves, broke three walls, captured Fifth Veil Hosts, and survived your emotional repression. I think I deserve sleep.”

”Your schedule at night is yours to manage.”

”How generous.”

Lucian sighed, then, he turned towards the door, ready to leave.

”And Cross.”

Alaric called at the last moment, Lucian looked at him.

”Whatever is happening between you and Miss Starling, do not let it compromise the mission.”

And his smile froze, for a second, Lucian said nothing, then, he nodded.

”I would never.”

Saying those words, he walked away.

And once he was alone in the corridor, his smile faded as he started thinking everything over in his head. What happened today, what he could have done better, what to do from now on, how to keep Evelyn safer...

He thought about it all.

Then, only one answer came to his head.

Stronger.

He needed to get even stronger.

And with that thought in his head—

Lucian, after checking up on Evelyn, went to the training room.

...

The next day, Lucian reported to Clara at five in the morning.

Clara was inside what was supposed to be the security room, though from the looks of it, the situation was far worse. Three tables were covered with maps, tablets, printed schedules, building layouts, vehicle routes, guard rosters, staff clearance forms, and files with red, yellow, and black tags.

Clara stood in the middle of it all, her hair was tied back, her expression was clean and calm, she had a tablet in one hand, a pen in the other.

Lucian looked at her and frowned.

”You slept, right?”

Clara looked at him.

”No.”

”Then why do you look like that?”

He asked.

”Like what?”

”Functional.”

”I am a Voss.”

”...”

Lucian only stared at her, not knowing what to say to that. Clara didn’t care, she only placed three folders on the table in front of him. Lucian looked at the folders, then at her, then back at the folders.

”You want me to read them...?”

”They don’t have pictures.”

Lucian slowly looked toward the door and Clara—

”If you leave, Commander Ashcroft told me to add venue insurance reports.”

Lucian froze, then, his eyes returned to the folders and his hand moved to the folders.

”You people are monsters.”

”That is why we are good at catching them.”

Clara nodded.

Lucian sat down on the chair and picked up the first file. Clara looked at it and nodded.

”Route approval.”

Lucian looked at the page.

There were too many lines, too many boxes and small notes. He stared at it for a good three seconds and felt his mind numbing down.

”What am I approving?”

He questioned.

”Miss Starling’s movement from residence to private studio tomorrow afternoon.”

”Simple. Put her in a car and drive.”

Clara looked at him.

Lucian sighed.

”Fine. Put her in three cars and drive.”

Clara did not blink.

Lucian rubbed his forehead.

”Four cars?”

”Read.”

Lucian sighed.

Clearly morning jokes weren’t working, so he dropped them.

This was important.

He knew that as well.

So he started reading.

First, there was a map, residence, main road, backup road, secondary backup road. There was also an emergency medical extraction point, two police checkpoints, three blind zones, five areas where crowds and media could gather very quickly, one construction site, those were dangerous too.

Lucian read it all. Clara saw that and nodded. Then, she leaned forward and tapped on the map.

”Your task is simple. Review the route, mark weaknesses, suggest alternates, approve or reject.”

”Whoever told you it’s simple is lying to you.”

Lucian commented, his eyes however, were already scanning everything, the previous ease and laziness in them were gone.

Since it was time to work, he was going to work seriously.

He would not put Evelyn’s security in jeopardy.

No way in hell.