When Darius’s attention shifted toward the broken machine—
Lucian stepped beside Evelyn, placed one hand under her back, freed her from the straps with the other and picked her up.
In that mont, maybe Evelyn sensed movent around her, or maybe it was another reason altogether—
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Help... ..."
She requested in a weak, low voice.
Even Lucian couldn’t tell if it was a conscious call or just one of her unconscious mutterings, not that it mattered.
He had already made up his mind, he removed her from the machine and the screen above her flashed violently.
DEPENDENCY FAILURE.
ANCHOR BROKEN.
ALL DATA ERASED.
Lucian didn’t care, he just looked at the woman, Evelyn too, stared at him, almost as if she was burning the mory in her eyes, then—
As if she could no longer take the toll of what had happened to her body, she closed her eyes to get so... actual, natural rest.
Lucian watched as she fell asleep.
Then, as if on cue—
"LUCIAN!!"
Darius scread in rage.
"DO YOU REALISE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!?"
Lucian however, only looked at him with a calm look on his face and—
"I saved her."
He answered and Darius...
"You... saved her...?"
He couldn’t believe it.
"No, do not justify your actions with those words, Lucian Cross.
You went against a formal order.
You wiped out the data that could have put an end to multiple places like this one, you ruined the lives of thousands of people—
Lives that could have been saved if not for you."
He spoke with a strict look on his face.
Lucian looked at him, then he looked at other mbers of the hunting party. Ilyra looked down, she had nothing to say, surprisingly, Tomas wasn’t gloating either, the hunter understood he owed his life to Lucian. If it wasn’t for Lucian, there wouldn’t even be this discussion of who was wrong or right in the first place, but neither Tomas nor Ilyra could go against the Captain’s words, so they remained silent.
And Lucian...
He turned back to the Captain and—
"I do not know how many lives could have been saved if we had kept the data."
He spoke as he then looked at Evelyn in his arms.
"But I do know a life that would have been ruined if I hadn’t done what I did.
And I... could not allow it."
Lucian looked back at Darius, his violet eyes shone with dangerous hatred.
"I could not allow another life to be ruined by demons or humans influenced by demons, not in front of ."
He spoke in a heavy, dangerous but oddly controlled voice. The horrifying mory of that day started playing out in his mind, the day he lost everything, the day he beca what he was now, the day he saw his mother scream till she no longer could and he...
The hatred in his eyes burned even more intensely, so much that Darius and all others unconsciously prepared their bodies, it was sothing so small that even they did not notice, but Lucian did.
And that brought him out of his reverie.
He closed his eyes, calming his riling emotions and—
"I was told the Enclave existed to protect humans and that is what I did, I protected the human that I could.
I do not deny that my actions have consequences and I am prepared to face those consequences, however, I will not apologise for what I did, because I believe what I did was not wrong either."
He spoke calmly and Darius...
He looked at the man standing in front of him, he thought of every single thing he had done today, how he was the sole reason they managed to find this floor they were on, survive the battle they survived and he—
"I will give a formal report to the authorities.
They will be the ones to decide on this matter."
He answered in a comparatively calr tone as well.
"I understand."
Lucian nodded.
Darius then turned to the rest—
"Clean up here."
He ordered.
He turned towards Lucian, expecting him to do the sa but Lucian was already sitting on the ground with his eyes closed and his back supported by one of the few pillars that was left here. Sitting right beside him was the unconscious Evelyn, her back was supported by the pillar, her head rested on Lucian’s head.
Darius looked at the two, specifically at Lucian, for a mont, he wanted to order him to move and help with the cleanup, but then—
"You get so rest."
After a slight pause, he instructed as he turned around.
Those words made Lucian smile a little.
"Thank you, Captain."
Darius paused for a mont, but he didn’t reply, he simply started cleaning up and began calling other formal authorities to take care of this ss.
...
The cleanup took hours.
Captain Darius requested more manpower since mbers of his own party were exhausted, once more people ca, the upper floors were cleared first.
So clients scread when they were taken away, so cried and begged not to be removed, so called the inspectors monsters.
So staff surrendered, others had already vanished, probably when Darius and others found the hidden floor and went down.
The receptionist was gone, so were two senior staff mbers, three guards, and several record handlers.
Not that it mattered—
Mara had already captured every single face, voice and soul trace—a faint living imprint every being, whether human or supernatural, carried.
The Enclave would find those who escaped.
The staff wasn’t the issue, they could be taken care of with force, the issue was the victims.
The ones upstairs could be treated, questioned, and slowly returned to their lives, but the ones from the lower floor were different.
Many had been conditioned too deeply, so trembled violently when they were separated from the machines, so begged for the sa staff mbers who had ruined them, so had forgotten how to sleep, breathe, or feel safe without the false comfort the Velvet House provided.
These were the people who couldn’t survive without the Velvet House.
The Enclave had to move them to protected recovery facilities. Witches would be called in to remove dependency threads, break emotional anchors, and cleanse the lingering desire residue from their minds and bodies.
It would take weeks for so. Months for others, so would never recover.
But whatever it was, the Enclave would do its best to control the damage.
By the ti official police arrived, the Enclave had already buried the real story beneath layers of paperwork.
"The Velvet House was involved in an illegal drug racket, human exploitation, dical fraud, and high-level corruption."
That was the statent prepared for the press.
By dawn, the Velvet House was sealed.
Its lights were turned off, its doors were chained and its na...
It would now fully disappear from the world.
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