Part One, Chapter Three

Jean Luc felt silly. If a stranger with a pretty face could bewitch him so thoroughly, he must have a really simple heart.

Living with that woman would be pretty fun.

He would think they were friends by now, after days of visiting her to make sure she was fine. A stab wound was undoubtedly painful, and he thought it was only right to be beside the woman who almost died in his house.

He had been living in a motel for the time being. He had enough money to afford a brand new home, but as Lucina mentioned, it was best for both of them to live under the same roof. Every time Jean Luc closed his eyes in the motel, he'll wake up to images of bloody bodies.

On the day when she could return home to her home, Lucinda's friend had awoken.

He was stumbling in her steps, but he was able to travel on his feet.

When they entered the room where the friend was awake but drowsy, Jean Luc swore he had seen a familiar glint enter both of their eyes when they locked.

--

"Hello, Blake," Raven greeted. If her childhood friend noticed the change from her normal tone of voice, he did not show it.

"Lucinda," he murmured.

Raven was glad that he remembered to use the name he was instructed to use.

"How are you?" Blake questioned as his eyes slipped to Jean Luc.

"Better than you, by the look of it. I can go home today."

"Lucky."

Raven took a step towards the bed where her friend laid. Knowing Jean Luc could not see her features, she let a wicked smile invade her face. One that Blake saw many times to know what it meant.

He humphed in reply before they got into character.

After the planned show for Jean Luc, Raven was itching to leave. Hospitals were too public for her liking, although she was hidden by a false identity.

As Jean Luc left the room, Blake winked. Raven allowed a soft chuckle to leave her lips as she muttered, "I'll see you soon."

--

It was a cottage.

A small, comfortable house that Jean Luc quite liked. As Lucinda gave a quick tour around the place, his eyes danced around the rooms.

There was a living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and bathrooms and a space with a few drawers and a seat positioned in the middle of the room, facing nothing.

"What's this for?" Jean Luc questioned, gesturing to the seat that seemed to be more useful in taking up precious space in the house.

"A seat to a game set." Lucinda gestured to a corner of the room he missed out. There was just one game, titled 'Human Apocalypse' beside the game set.

"Isn't the couch facing the wrong way?"

"Yes, but I don't give a shit. The game isn't for me, anyway. It's a friend's."

Jean Luc chuckled before following Lucinda to a room. Her bedroom, he realised. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the pictures on the wall.

In one of them, Lucinda had an arm around her friend and a drink on the other hand. In another, the man who was in the hospital, Blake, was carrying Lucinda. He seemed to be in the midst of spinning her, and the smile on her face was one of true happiness.

Jean Luc recalled the story that Lucinda told the police. Blake and she had a mutual friend who landed them in their situation. They seemed closer than he thought they were.

In a third picture, Lucinda was flipping off the camera with three people around her. One of them was asleep on the ground with his hair swept to one side. It revealed a tattoo of a crown on the side of his forehead. It was then Jean Luc realised that all of them bore this mark. Mostly hidden, but if he were to look carefully in every picture, he could see the black ink.

"My friends," Lucinda said simply.

Jean Luc turned towards her. "The tattoos. What does it mean?"

"Straight to the personal question, huh?"

"It's personal?"

"To me, tattoos are always personal," she said but swept her hair aside to show the hidden, small crown. "It ties us together. Makes us feel like what we want to be most."

"And what is that?"

"Royalty," Lucinda said before grinning. "Well, maybe not that. Leaders, perhaps."

"Your friends didn't visit when you were in the hospital with a stab wound."

"I would rather they not know that Blake and I got into such big trouble."

It was a strange reply somehow, but Jean Luc did not push for a more proper explanation. Instead, Jean Luc headed to the living room.

"Already making yourself at home?" Lucinda asked.

"I'd be staying here for some time until my nightmare ceases. I suppose I should get comfortable."

Lucinda shrugged and sat beside him on the couch. Her shoulder brushed his, and her warmth graced him as he searched through the movies on her television. It felt right, somehow.

"Do you have any close friends?" she asked suddenly.

"Just colleagues. I'm not required to go to work for some time, though. Where do you work?"

"A small company." Her reply was horribly vague, but he supposed they had the next few days to truly get to know each other. Living under the same room stretches possibilities far and wide.

"I don't think it's safe to be outside working when you're a target of the most notorious murderer in town."

The statement seemed to catch her attention. Lucinda turned to face him.

"I know right. That murderer is a true demon. Someone made of an evil heart. Don't you agree, Jean Luc?"

"I know. He's a psychopath that does not belong on this earth. He's awfully cruel, and to be hunted by him is beyond dangerous."

The side of her lips seemed to tug upwards for a moment before it was replaced with a frown. Jean Luc wondered if his mind made up the smirk.

"I know how to protect myself, but I'm sure that I'll be requesting a long break from work. I need it to clear my thought on the murder scene. I need him to be caught before I can have a peaceful mind," Lucinda said, solemn, before adding. "Do you think he will be caught?"

"I hope so, but it's difficult. I've been gone for a year-long business trip, and the demon has been around the whole time. He's difficult to catch."

"He marks his victims with his two letters. If that doesn't scream evil, then I don't know what does." Lucinda glanced at him as if waiting for Jean Luc to carry on insulting the criminal.

"It's crazy that he got to live so long. He sure knows how to hide." It was then Jean Luc realised that they had been speaking in hushed tones. As if the gossip could be heard by the demon. Ridiculous.

"I'm curious. Does that make him a coward or a genius?"

"A genius, of course. A horrible, horrible one."

Lucinda turned back to the television after what he mentioned. He could have sworn he saw a smug look cross her features.