Morning has risen, Nata and Olivia having been unable to sleep, as they had taken residence in Edith's office, resting on the sofa after unrestful night.

  "This information is really troublesome for sure." Edith muttered, sitting by her desk as Sophia and Kat were sitting on the other side, as Sophia had worked for the night to get information and Edith and Kat only now were getting the information.

  Kat quickly spoke up, "There is good amount of hope, as if high ranking member to possibly the boss himself is willing to pick up Yasuda, that means they might have plans with him."

  Sophia continued from Kat's speculation. "Yet he is still in plenty of risk, from all we know. They could be torturing him for information as much as using him as a captive for their gains."

  Silence fell between the trio thinking, only to get interrupted by Nata, who was resting by Olivia, getting comforted by her. "He'd do anything to Hiro, even bring him to brink of death, maybe even kill him and bring him back alive for amusement. Vaska, beyond anything, is sadist at heart." She said, with clear knowledge, making mood of the room more discomfortable.

  As group kept on trying to think what to do, the silence was quickly broken with a phone ringing.

  Edith brought up her phone, only to realize the number was Hiroshi's.

  "Damn, we don't have time to set up trackers." Edith noted, making everyone else in the room realize who was calling.

  All went silent, as Edith answered.

  "Hello."

  "If it isn't my pain in the neck, Edith. How is it going? Hope a missing lapdog doesn't worry you too much."

  "What do you want, Vaska?"

  "You know exactly what I want. I want your people stop ruining my work."

  "And you know I won't accept it just because you got one of my men in your hands."

  "Absolutely, that is why I will have so much fun torturing him. I bet Nata will be happy to hear news on that."

  Edith started to get cold sweat and surprised to hear he knew Nata was with Hiroshi, before realizing it most likely was from clips from thursday's chaos.

  "Why would you care about her?"

  "She's my lapdog, just so you know. I will make her regret the day she thought she could run away from me, and this just kills two birds with one head. Have fun explaining you denying her sweet owner's release."

  "So what do you want for him, exactly?"

  "I would like an compromise. A lapdog for a lapdog. Tomorrow midnight, bring Nata and yourself to the park center. Do not even try thinking about bringing your men or women to protect you, or deal is over before you see me."

  With it, call was over, leaving rest of the room anticipating for her to tell what was said.

  "We... we need to make a plan, and fast."

  Awakening with pain in chest, laying on the concrete floor, Hiroshi looked around his surroundings. He could note the dried out blood on the ground, with him being in the cell he saw when he was on the chair.

  Realizing the situation, he quickly checked his chest, only to see the gashed shirt, and wound having disappeared.

  "I told you not to worry, and what do you do? You worry." A familiar rough voice spoke, and turning his head, he saw the woman in the cell with him, sitting and leaning against the wall.

  "What was I meant to do? He was about to kill you." He said, with slight concerning look if she was fine, only to see the cut that she got had also healed.

  "So what? I am an zombie, I will heal from it anyways." She noted casually. "You are so worthless, thinking I wouldn't warn you if I couldn't survive it."

  Hiroshi was left mildly speechless, surprised to hear she was an monster, when appearances spoke completely differently.

  "Right, sorry." Hiroshi admitted, returning to relax sitting. "How long has it been?"

  "About three hours. You are lucky my blood could fix you up. you'd be dead by now otherwise." she admitted, calming down and keeping an eye on the stairway.

  Hiroshi only sighed, as he laid back down onto the cold concrete floor. "...I just hope the girls are fine," he thought out loud.

  "I presume you are a foster parent."

  "A crappy one at that. Meant to care for others when I can't even care for myself." Hiroshi muttered, contemplating on his situation.

  "Must be because of the warding on you."

  "...a warding?" Hiroshi asked in confusion, as the woman gave a calm look back at him.

  "We undead can see magic and spirits, yours is darkened, meaning someone has put a spell on you, by appearance it is an ward."

  "That is news that is comforting, and concerning... wait, but don't vampires count as undead?"

  "Only turned vampires, pure-bloods aren't. Got to know plenty of this stuff by Vaska and other higher ups in the mafia."

  As Hiroshi heard it, he couldn't help but swallow in his own worries.

  "But why tell me all of this? Aren't I technically your enemy, if you are working with them?"

  She went silent for a moment, almost like she herself wasn't sure on what she was doing, but after a moment of contemplation, she spoke up.

  "Enemy of my enemy is a friend." She admitted, herself not having much good faith on her words.

  "I guess that's good enough reason. Then why don't you tell me your name?" Hiroshi asked, clearly starting to get mixed feelings.

  She returned to look at Hiroshi, clearly not amused by his questioning. "For what? So you can put me on record to be imprisoned for colluding with these criminals."

  The atmosphere got awkward. Hiroshi knew she couldn't trust him, especially since he is still technically her enemy... but he knew there was more to it.

  "I don't care. You cared enough to safe my life, so might as well try to repay it back." Hiroshi claimed. he knew it wasn't fully why he was willing to trust her, but it has to do for now.

  The woman kept staring at him, before breaking the silence. "I know when someone is keeping secrets. Better not keep anything from me, if you want anything from me."

  'DANG IT!' Hiroshi shouted in his mind, he was hoping to get out of this without much harm to those near him, but this woman was expert in this craft.

  "I... I already care for girls who have been in mafia's hands. I don't know what they have gone through, but I doubt they are fully innocent in their own ways, yet living with them, it has shown they aren't who they seem to be at first glance." Hiroshi explained, but only met with her gaze, challenging him further.

  The silence and the situation didn't ease his mind, she was clearly pressuring him to tell the truth, but he wasn't sure yet if he should trust her with the names.

  But there was no other solution he could reasonably find. "Fine, Olivia and Nata. A demi-moth and demi-dog. Are you happy now." he said with broken heart, with only hope that his trust was worth putting on her.

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  Looking up to meet her gaze, he noticed that her expression was in shock, before slowly turning into smirk, that turned into laughter. "Oh, man. You sure are a crappy foster."

  Hiroshi was unsure how to take such reaction, until she got up, and calmly looked at him. "Name's Julia. Nice to be your partner for time being."

  "right..." he muttered out, clearly displeased on the unsure nature of her, but for now he couldn't complain.

  Silence well back between the two, awaiting against the cold concrete floor.

  "We have no choice. We have to do the deal." Kat spoke in stern voice, as Nata was crying on the couch, clearly not pleased at all on the plan.

  "Pretty cruel." Olivia commented as she was hugging and comforting Nata, as Sophia and Edith were just sulking at the office desk for going with it.

  "Not like we have much choice." Edith noted, as Kat adds "But even if they go by themself, it is our only chance to place tracker on Vaska and find out where their hideout in the city is."

  "But we don't fully know who he is, or what his abilities or plans are. It might be harder than we think." Sophia spoke up, Making rest uneasy by the premise.

  "We could put tracker on Nata, so we don't need to risk suspicious actions. But how unpredictable the scene is, we cannot just put a tracker on her and hope for best. We have to do it by old-school and track them by person just in case."

  The speculation got Edith and Kat considering the outcome as well, "We should try scouting as far away as possible" Kat informed, as taking his threat of knowing before seeing them is important.

  "That is to presume they don't plan it to be something bigger, or having lied to us about the deal." Edith muttered, as all of them started to slowly get overloaded by the complications.

  But before they could consider further, Nata through the sniffling decided to speak up. "I... I don't know what he is planning... but I know Vaska isn't the lying type... but if this is only way to rescue Hiro... put tracker on me."

  Trio got surprised by her going with it. "No need." Olivia tried to comfort and try to settle her, but Nata gently pulled her away. "He saved me, so let me save him in return. I don't want him to suffer for me."

  It sounded grim, but trio knew that she had most influence in the situation, so with light disappointment from Edith and Sophia having to go with it, and relief from Kat, they went with the plan being prepared in proper.

  "So, who is this Vaska guy?" Hiroshi decided to ask of Julia, seeing they didn't have anything better to do, as his stomach growling from hunger.

  "The man who is holding us both captive. Don't let his unassuming looks get better of you, he is an incubus if you have ever seen one."

  "Really? He didn't seem like a demon to me. Only horns hinted at it."

  "No one is fully sure, but his knowledge of magic is otherworldly, so it is hard to be denied by anyone when he claims it."

  "Oh, and I claim it with my full heart, sweeties." Came a familiar voice from the stairs, and to neither of their surprise, it was Vaska, bringing alongside him with a single plate of food and a water bottle.

  "It seems your master decided to co-operate with my request, and seeing i am feeling kind, you can have a reward" he said with a smile, as he slipped the plate and bottle through an slot on the door, finishing with "remember, don't forget to share." before he headed back upstairs, clearly taking pleasure seeing their suffering in the cage before being out of sight.

  Both of them were left staring at the plateful of food, both of their hunger clearly lightly blurring their thoughts, but before Julia could do anything, Hiroshi went forward to pick it up.

  Before she could argue against it, or fight back, he left the plate in front of her, as he took the bottle to drink some water.

  Julia was left to think, trying to puzzle together what he was trying to do, but he calmly went to take good amount of water, before giving rest of the bottle to her as he went to rest.

  Seeing it, Julia couldn't help but feel curiosity boiling in her. "What is your deal?" clearly trying to get a response from him.

  "for healing me." He calmly replied. "I can guess your regenerating power doesn't come for free. And I ate plenty yesterday, so I am not in crisis."

  'At least he isn't a full on moron.' she thought to herself, as she dug into the food, and taking last of water he had left to her.

  "You know what, I have a plan" Julia spoke up, getting Hiroshi's curiosity.

  "Wake up, worm." Vaska shouted, as he punched Hiroshi awake with familiar punch onto the gut, and as expected, bag on head and tied up during sleep. but this time he felt like he was in a car, and familiar feeling of scythe's blade threatening at his throat.

  "I want to thank you for being a useful tool. A good lapdog like the sniffly lil dogs you call fosters. I will promise you, you will have nothing to worry about after this little deal of ours is finished." he spoke, with clear malice behind his voice, as he snickered behind gritted teeth.

  "Oh, speaking of." as car quickly took a sudden stop, and while Hiroshi didn't dare even move a muscle, he was shortly thrown onto the curb, hitting his head hard, but bruising at worst, as Vaska shortly joined outside, starting to drag him across the paved road.

  Meanwhile, Edith was already by the park center, Nata alongside her, fidgeting hard from concern.

  "It is couple minutes past midnight... surely he should be here by now." Edith noted, clearly not liking him not being punctual with time, which didn't ease Nata's mind at all either.

  "You should know me, I like to surprise my trading partners." Vaska spoke up, walking in on the scene, noting Edith's nervous stare and Nata starting to shrink on the spot like an afraid puppy.

  "Where's Hiroshi?" Edith asked, but seems it got answered by itself, as Vaska lifted up the tied up body he was dragging and pulling bag off his head, almost like a teasing to show his state, which thankfully was just mildly bruised and starved, and minor bleeding from hitting his head.

  "You should be proud of him, he is as loyal as they get. Just be careful not to let him be killed by that loyalty." He spoke with a smirk, before throwing it to be between both of them.

  As Edith tried to take step forward to check on Hiroshi, she quickly noticed Vaska pulling out an pistol and pointing at her. "Now let's not hurry on the merchandise, lady. Yours. Now." he spoke harshly, as he beckoned Nata to come towards him.

  Nata clearly didn't want to go, shivering in place, but Edith knew this was their only choice right now, Leaving Nata to shyly shuffle towards Vaska.

  Hiroshi couldn't help but look in speechless stare, seeing what was happening. Wanting to object to so many thing happening, yet not wanting to speak up to aggravate anything else... however, there was weird feeling he was having, something he hasn't felt before, even with the invisible scythe on his throat, as Nata walked by him, and slowly getting closer to Vaska.

  Getting close enough, Nata started to tear up, before finally Vaska was able to reach for her hair, pulling her next to him. "Now things are back in order like couple months ago. If only everything else was this easy."

  He happily turned Nata facing Edith and Hiroshi, as gun was still pointed at them. "You see, it is refreshing when lapdogs can't reveal their secrets. But thanks to you, I have my ancient species back."

  As both heard it, it sent shock through them. "Ancient species!?" both blurted out. Hiroshi has heard of them in history books, species similar to vampires, the kind that is able to harness magic. 'But she an samoyed. no way could she-'

  "Kinda funny, but as a thanks, I will inform you. She is an dire wolf." he said with wide smirk, happily taking in the sights of Edith and Hiroshi astonishment, as he roughly scratched her head as appreciation for keeping it a secret.

  "Of course, I am more than happy to demonstrate, don't you as well, sweet Nata." As he tightened his grip on her hair with a pull, making her whine in pain.

  "Now, why don't you cool off your sweet owner."

  With gruel grin, he pushed her forward, and Hiroshi felt it now, and saw it. Julia's blood gave him faint sense of her magic, and it was only building up in her with distress.

  Edith tried to step forward in hopes to stop what was going on or at least get Hiroshi away, but Vaska was quick to take a warning shot, barely missing her foot, making her freeze and making it clear he wasn't bluffing.

  "I don't have all day, You bitch." Vaska commanded with a shout. Hiroshi could tell she was holding it back. He knew he had to let it to happen or there will be more losses than planned, so with heavy gulp, he had to accept what is to come.

  "Nata!" Hiroshi shouted, Getting her attention, while Vaska looked in curiosity what the bound tamer will do. "Don't worry." he said calmly, giving a calm long look into her eyes.

  Nata, through her tear-laced eyes, tried to process why was he so calm at such moment, but she couldn't help but think back to her memories, this wasn't same. He had full trust everything will be fine. "I will be fine."

  Seeing it, she couldn't help but start to cry once again, as she screamed. "I AM SORRY!" as she extended her arms, and before anyone could process it, she shot out icy mist towards Hiroshi, and in just couple seconds, leaving him and his surroundings encased in ice.

  "AMAZING! You haven't rusted at all." Vaska happily exclaimed, easing his grip on her hair, but quickly taking look at Edith. "Our deal is over, have fun." as he shot her right leg, before starting to run away towards his escape car with Nata in his arms.

  "Did he knew?" Edith questioned in painful grunt, as she gripped the wound. Having seen and heard the situation, Ingolf came out of hiding in the bushes. "You tell me, It was even harder for me to watch." as he took out medkit and started to patch her bullet wound. "But I doubt Hiroshi could survive this one."

  Meanwhile Vaska was quick to throw Nata into the backseat of the car and hop in, as Kat and Sophia kept eye out from the sky, starting to track the car just in case.

  They were able to easily follow the speeds, but as suspected, they used decoy cars and hopped between each, confusing both of them more and more, until they lost the track which car they were on, leaving their old-school tracking plans as dead end.

  "Why are they going so far just for Nata?" Kat complained, clearly getting angry as they lost track of them.

  "Not sure, but seems she may have been more valuable than we first expected."

  "Either way, we should go check on the rest, just in case there isn't more to worry about."

  The statement left the two awkward upon arrival, seeing Hiroshi be incased in chunk of ice, as Edith was calling ambulance, while Ingolf was trying to chip away the ice with a rock, in attempts to at least able to lift the ice chunk off the ground.