Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

While Zane and Angelica were spending some quality alone time together, a far more important meeting was taking place within the city of Carson. Standing where her abominations had been turned to ash was none other than Eliza, who appeared to be in a rather foul mood.

She was inspecting the ashes of her most elite troops, pondering about something peculiar. Normally, the blood crystals within her servant's brains would have survived. Yet there was nothing here, nothing but ash, that is.

Eliza knew that her prey did not have time to loot the remains of her fallen servants, and thus it was peculiar that they had suddenly disappeared. She did not want to believe it, but she was beginning to genuinely consider the possibility that her mother was aiding these humans for some reason.

Or, more specifically, the black-haired being who was neither fully living nor dead. While Eliza was pondering these things, a breeze of air passed by her, followed by a familiar voice, one that made her sigh heavily.

"You called?"

Bartholomew was standing behind Eliza with a rather excited expression on his face. Eliza had contacted him demanding a meeting, and he had assumed that she had captured the prey which had escaped from his net, but as he looked around and saw that there was no such thing, he quickly frowned, interrogating the girl before she could properly speak.

"What is the meaning of this? Where are my prey?"

Eliza turned around and faced Bartholomew with an utterly fearless expression on her face, something that was quite unusual for their meetings. She stared at the man while asking a simple question, one that perplexed him.

"What exactly do you know about these prey of yours?"

Bartholomew frowned when he heard this. Eliza seemed to have learned something, something he was trying to keep from her. And he was quick to sigh and shake his head before speaking his thoughts on the matter.

"I should have known you would discover the truth… That black-haired kid is Horde King hiding among the living. I don't know exactly which one of our brothers he is, or why he is doing such a thing, but there is no mistaking it. My scouts have already confirmed it. Naturally, I came all this way to teach this challenger to my throne a proper lesson…"

Surprisingly, Eliza scoffed at Bartholomew's words before outright insulting him to his face.

"You're a fucking idiot…"

Bartholomew's expression soured as he approached the younger and much weaker Horde King, grasping her neck with one hand and lifting her into the air while choking her. All the while demanding an answer from her.

"What did you just say to me?"

Yet there was no fear on Eliza's face, instead there was pity as she responded to her older brother with a matching tone.

"I said you're a fucking idiot. He's not a horde king, at least not completely. I would know. I infected him with my blood. He suffered from a mitigated corrupted state. If he was a normal living being, he would have been paralyzed and infected with the virus the moment my blood came into contact with his.

Hell, he would have been turned into an undead instantly.

But if he was one of us, he never would have suffered from a corrupted state, even one that was limited. He's something else, Bart, something new… And I think mother is responsible… I don't know what other way to explain it, he knew where I was going to strike, without even detecting my presence, and evaded just enough not to get killed.

Not only that, but he broke the state of corruption he was in a second or two after I inflicted it upon him. Though there was no mistaking it, he was indeed corrupted for that brief moment. Who do you know who is capable of such a thing? Not even Lilith or Damian could do that, assuming they were capable of being corrupted to begin with…"

Bartholomew's eyes grew wide as a terrified expression spread across hi face. He instinctively released Eliza from his grip as he came to a haunting realization. Even though it was a very remote possibility, if their mother was indeed fond of this strange being, then it would not bode well for either of them if they continued to pursue him with malicious intent.

Because of this, Bartholomew asked Eliza, with a panicked tone in his voice, the thoughts that were currently plaguing his mind.

"How… How certain are you of Mother's involvement?"

Elia pondered on it for a moment, before expressing her estimation aloud with an inflected tone in her voice.

"Hmmm… Ten percent at the most. The fact remains, we don't know much about these so called awakened humans. It is entirely possible that one of the others he was with broke the corrupted state which he was inflicted with, I'm not entirely certain, as I was not paying attention to those small fries at the time.

But ten percent is still an enormous risk when a mother is involved. If she is protecting this boy, do you have any idea what she will do to us if we succeed in harming him? I suggest for the time being; we back off and observe this matter until we are absolutely certain about just what is going on with here…

Besides, they appear to have made a permanent residence here in my domain. I don't know exactly where it is, but I suspect they will not be trying to leave this territory any time soon. We have plenty of time to observe them. And if they were to flee, then they would become one of siblings' problem now, wouldn't they?"

Batholomew thought about this proposal in silence for several moments. Until he eventually nodded his head in agreement, albeit not before making his own stipulations.

"If I agree to this, then I want one thing from you…."

Eliza's brow raised slightly as she asked about just what this condition was with a curious tone in her voice.

"Oh? And what might that be?"

Bartholomew spoke his demand with a grave tone in his voice, and by the sound of it he would never agree to Eliza's proposal unless this demand was met.

"You tell nobody about this matter until we have found out the truth. Not Lilith, not Damian, or any of the others. This stays between us, understood?"

Eliza's lips curled. She was waiting for this request. After all, they were both obligated to report to Lilith on important matters, and mother's whereabouts currently being unknown meant that any matter she may potentially be involved in was the highest priority.

For Bartholomew to make this request, it meant she could ask for something else in exchange, which she was quick to do so.

"I'll keep this a secret between us, Bart, but you have to return the favor. I want you to replace the abominations I lost in this battle. Not only that, but I want five stalkers as well… After all, there is no way for me to properly keep tabs on these miscreants if I don't have the forces necessary to stalk them…"

Bart grunted in displeasure, but ultimately agreed to Eliza's counter proposal. Thus, replacing the losses she had suffered, and enhancing her reconnaissance capabilities. Making her and her horde a larger threat to Zane and his party.

"Fine… Have it your way…. I'll have them delivered to you within the hour. As for the issue regarding these humans, keep me posted on any changes. You know how to reach me."

After saying this, Bart disappeared in a flash, leaving Eliza with a malevolent smirk on her face. Though her losses were significant in the prior battle, she had ultimately been the victor in the end, thanks to the information she acquired.

And the gains that Zane and his girls had accomplished by defeating the small horde's only Tier III undead were immediately replenished and bolstered by reinforcements.