Nyla regained consciousness to a nice breeze touching her face. She couldn’t help smiling. It felt like spring, and she loved spring. She slowly opened her eyes to see herself in a room with blue walls. There were a few generic photo frames on the wall and a chair on the corner. The room was lit with fluorescent lights. She moved her stiff neck to the other side to see a large mirror and to her disappointment the source of the breeze, the air conditioner instead of a window. There was a door next to the mirror with bars on its small window. She noticed that she was thirsty, and her throat hurt. There was a table next to the door with a water container. She tried to sit up but couldn’t move her body. That’s when she noticed the restraints that had fixed her body to the bed and many tubes that were attached to her, feeding, and monitoring her at the same time.

What were all of these? She tried to remember why she was there, but her mind was blanking out. The last thing she remembered was that she was on her way to the orphanage to participate in the charity event. Then something happened. Something bad. She stared at her reflection in the mirror tied to the bed with casts on her left leg and right arm and tried to remember but her mind was too hazy. She remembered being in a hospital room screaming, surrounded by frightened people but couldn’t recall why they were scared. Suddenly the door to the room opened and a large fat woman in a nurse's uniform entered the room carrying a tray.

* How are feeling, sugar?

She asked with a cheery tone. Unlike her large build, she had a very kind face and voice, Nyla noted. She tried to ask for water, but her brain couldn’t form the words. As if the nurse read her mind, she went to the table and came with a glass of water. After pushing a button to raise the back of the bed, she helped Nyla to drink the water slowly. Nyla noticed her name was Millie Fowler.

* .. Thank… you…

Her hoarse voice surprised Nyla herself. Nurse Fowler smiled as she put back the glass and removed her restraints. Then she went on helping her to freshen up and change into a new robe.

* Where am I?

Nyla finally asked her. Her mind felt clearer now.

* You’re at Hopkin’s general hospital, dear.

Nurse Fowler answered carefully. She was the head nurse for the psych ward for about ten years and attending to patients in such detail was not part of her job. But this patient was a special case since their largest donor had asked them for more attentive care. And with good reasons too. When they brought her in, she had multiple broken bones in her arms and legs. Many fractures throughout her body and a nasty concussion. According to her charts, she was the victim of an awful hit-and-run. They had performed multiple surgeries to stop internal bleeding and her heart stopped twice while she was under the knife. It was a miracle that she survived.

But then the real problem started. She started hallucinating about demons and how they killed her family. She explained the massacre in such detail that they would have believed her except that no demon attack happened in the entire country of Azul. The blessing of the church prevented all of that. Everyone knew that. As her reaction to hallucination became more violent – she stabbed an orderly with a syringe-- they transferred her to the psych ward. She was heavily medicated to keep her calm so she wouldn’t have any episodes until she recovered physically, and Nurse Fowler was ordered to personally attend to her. It was humiliating as a head nurse but not too tough of a job. As she helped Nyla to put on her new gown, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. As she turned to place the used gown on the table, Nyla suddenly grabbed her wrist.

* Billy! What happened to Billy?! Where is he?

Nyla started yelling at her. Then tried to stand up and move toward the door but fell to the floor. Luckily nurse Fowler caught her.

She remembered why she was there. She remembered being on a helicopter and being carried in the wood and as if a dam broke, she remembered the whole thing. Her walk to the house, the sculpture made of Maryam and children’s body parts, the intruder and the demon, and Billy. The poor sweet Billy. She felt her stomach turning and bent to throw up. The only thing that came out was watery liquid.

As the nurse helped Nyla lay back down on the bed, she used a button on the top of the bed to call for the doctor.

* Easy now, here you go, darling.

She said gently as she started putting back the restraints on her. Nyla noticing what she was doing yanked her arm.

* No! Let me go!!

She started yelling and kicking trying to free herself, but the nurse was stronger and after some fight, she put her back in her restraints and started fixing the tubes that thrashing had undone. Nyla started screaming. That was the only thing she could do.

The door buzzed open one more time, allowing a man in a white robe to enter. The nurse backed away to allow the doctor better access to her. The nurse came back with a tray and placed it on the table at the end of the bed and passed a syringe to the doctor.

* What is that?

Nyla stopped screaming and asked with suspicion as he started injecting the content of the syringe into the IV tube that was connected to her left arm.

* sedatives.

The doctor said with disinterest. She tried to say that she didn’t want a sedative and that she was fine as long as they told her what had happened, but before she could, the world started to spin and disappear in front of her eyes and finally, the darkness came back.

*******************************************

The doctor left the room, leaving the nurse Fowler to take care of the aftermath and entered the observation room behind the mirror.

* How is she, Tim?

He was greeted by Liam Turner. He shook his head. The girl’s physical condition was bad enough and treating her as a psych patient was not doing her any favours.

* You should take her out of here. Her being treated as mental patient is taking a toll on her.

He started explaining. It was partially his fault that she was in the psych ward. When they transferred her to the capital he was not where he was supposed to be and before he could arrive, they already had tagged her as a psych patient.

* I’m on it… It’s taking longer than I thought to take her out of Azul without causing any suspicion and I can’t directly meet her…

Liam said with frustration and the doctor nodded as a sign of understanding as he left the room to attend to his other special patients, leaving Lim to his thoughts.

Azul was one of the countries too deeply entangled with the church and taking out a survivor of a demon attack was close to impossible. Their agenda was that the presence of the church meant no demon attack. In the past hundred years, they silenced any news of the demon attack in the entire country to strengthen the belief in their agenda. But that didn’t stop them from using ADA to control the situation when a demon attack truly happened. As long as ADA kept silent about the situation and allowed them to clean the aftermaths including the survivors in exchange for money. It was a frustrating situation, but ADA executives couldn't refuse the offer. It was not easy to make money in this business without supporters.

But Nyla was a different story. Based on Alexander’s report, she knew secrets about demons that a person living in Azul would not know of. As a matter of fact, most people outside of ADA’s executive circle probably didn’t know of it. Secrets such as the world demons originate from and 12 Watchmen. He had to learn why and how she learned about these secrets before other executives found out about her and to do that he had to smuggle her out of Azul. He hardly managed to cover Nyla’s incident as a hit-and-run with the help of some of their backers in the country such as Dr. Tim Pearce but getting her out of the country was something else entirely.

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He stared at the tattered body from behind the double-sided mirror. He remembered the first time he saw her. such a calm and gentle creature. She didn’t deserve to die after surviving such a brutal situation regardless of their suspicion of her identity. Liam sighed. There was one sure way to get her out, but it would cause lots of headaches for him including dealing with a man-child called Alexander.

* Jamal!

To his call, a tall reddish-brown-skinned man with short wavy black hair opened the door. He was wearing a simple suit instead of his regular ADA uniform. “It’s a nice change,” Liam thought to himself.

* Please tell Dr. Pearce to ready her for transfer. We are going back home.

He asked him with a smile. Jamal nodded as he closed the door and went to find the good doctor. He tried to hide his smile unsuccessfully. The cheery smile contrasted his scary build and face making him look even more frightening. But he couldn’t help it. They were in this god-forsaken country for too long and he couldn't wait to go home and spend some time with his lover.

*********************************

Nyla groaned as she slowly opened her eyes one more time. Her mouth was parched dry, and her head was throbbing. Everything was pitch black except for the sliver of moonlight coming through the blinds. She was in a different room. She remembered being moved outside on a gurney and then being on some sort of airplane. And that hateful doctor who kept injecting her with drugs! She had half a mind to sue him for giving her the medication before asking for her consent. She was sure that was a thing. She sat up –thankful that she was not restrained anymore-- trying to locate a light switch. Her heavy leg was telling her that she still had the cast on. where was she now? A different hospital or a different room in the mental asylum she was staying before. She tried to get out of bed as she didn’t find what she was looking for, but her body was too stiff, unlike her mind which was clearer than ever. While struggling, she missed a pair of green eyes observing her every move from the shadows.

Alexander had just finished cleaning after the daemon and its seed when Liam contacted him about the girl. He admitted that he was surprised-- and slightly glad-- that she survived. She was very nice to him while he was pretending to be an orphan named Luke--before the whole debacle with the seed and her slandering him with murder. Liam wanted his help in smuggling the girl out of the country. Alexander understood his plan even before he started explaining.

The church got rid of the survivors of the daemon attacks in countries like Azul to keep up the pretense that their god Lux would protect his worshipers. That’s how they remained the main religion of the continent. The only people who were safe from the death penalty were official ADA members since the church would use their services occasionally for a hefty price. But becoming an official member was not an easy feat. Most of their soldiers trained for years to be considered a recruit let alone an official member. Even if by some miracle, the other executives allowed such admittance, it wouldn’t be enough. The church checked their identity and numbers before and after entering including their fallen comrades thoroughly. A sudden addition of a member to their expedition would definitely get on their radar.

Unless she was part of the special unit. His special unit. The only unit that officially didn’t exist and the church wouldn’t dare to mess with it. Alexander made sure of this years ago. But why would he bother helping the girl? Alexander admitted that he found the girl quite peculiar, especially after the seed’s behaviour around her. But the ring didn’t react to her in the slightest. He tested her multiple times – as he tested any individual that piqued his interest. So, there was no way that she was the one he was looking for. But this was an opportunity. An opportunity to cross an item in his retirement plan checklist in Keerly Key in Vatia. The white sandy beach, the blue-green ocean, and nice weather with always the right temperature. It was the perfect place to laze around and do nothing. Liam had inherited a small cottage there from his grandfather – Alexander was there when he bought the cottage before he could, just to spite him—that was perfect as his future home.

To Alexender’s surprise and disappointment, Liam accepted his condition very quickly. He expected some resistance from him and looked forward to a chance to argue with him. Liam had only one condition. That Alexender would be the one to notify the executive and get their approval, which he accepted gladly. Next to messing with Liam, he took pleasure in annoying those old foxes and showing them who was the boss. These small pleasures were the only things that kept him going. As soon Alexender received the deed to the cottage, he took the first flight out back to their headquarters in Ublos and intimidated other executives in their highchairs until they finally gave up, signed and sent the required paperwork to Liam. He spent the rest of the time in the training ground – as usual—when Emily – who was responsible for his unit’s paperwork instead of Kain who went and injured himself like an idiot-- told him about Liam and the girl’s arrival. At first, he ignored the report, but as the day turned into night, he finally gave in to his curiosity. Before he realized his feet had dragged him to her room and he was standing over her bed.

He sighed in relief when he saw her breathing in a continuous rhythm. “Did I just feel relief?!” he asked himself. It had been such a long time since he felt this feeling. Being in constant war with daemons for centuries and losing countless people in the process had desensitized him to these kinds of emotions. As he turned to leave, the girl started waking up. He froze up. if he was caught watching her sleeping, Liam would never leave him be. He decided to wait quietly hoping that girl would go back to sleep. But she didn’t. He looked at her struggling to get out of bed and almost falling.

* Stop, you’re going to fall…

Alexander blurted out as she stumbled out of the bed. Nyla jumped out of her skin, hearing Alexander’s cold voice coming from the other side of the room.

* Who’s there?

She yelled while squinting and trying to see the owner of the voice. A shadow shuffled in the darkness and got closer to the window. Alexander hesitated for a second and finally stepped in the moonlight.

As soon as she recognized his face she started screaming. She jumped out of the bed running to the opposite side of the room, trying to get away from him as much as possible. Unfortunately, the side she walked on was not a side with a door.

* Please be quiet!

Alexander walked towards Nyla, baffled by her reaction, and amazed that she could run with her leg in a cast. Their last encounter was not pleasant, but it was not bad enough to cause such a reaction in his opinion. Nyla ignored him and continued screaming while looking for the door, hoping that someone might hear her and come to her rescue. She finally found a door handle on the wall she was scratching at. She grabbed the handle and pried it open with all her strength. Before she could fully open the door to exist, Alexander slammed it shut and pushed her back to the wall. He put one hand on her mouth while pinning her against the wall using the other one.

* I told you to shut the hell up! You are going to wake him up…

He said angrily. Liam’s room was just around the corner. He even asked her politely to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake and find him here. She whimpered under his hold. Up close he looked larger and more dangerous than before. His long black hair was dishevelled and there was a threatening glint in his green eyes. The arm that was on her mouth was covered in bandages it was starting to get wet with her tears. After Mathew’s death, Maryam used to tell her that death finds all of them and there is no way to hide from it. She couldn’t help but think that he had finally found her too.

* What the hell is going on, Alexander? You’re going to wake her…

Liam entered the room hurriedly and turned on the light with Jamal at his heels pointing his gun out of habit. Earlier the nurse in charge of the room had told him that their patient had a visitor. He decided to not bother Alexander about his sneakiness. His presence meant that no one in the organization would bother Nyla and he could finally have some peace and alone time with Jamal. They were just starting to enjoy their time together when a scream from down the hall disturbed them.

Nyla closed her eyes at the sudden rush of light. Alexander cursed under his lips and loosened his grape on her.

* WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?

Liam yelled at him as he let go of her completely. Nyla collapsed right where she was standing. As Alexander walked away, she started rubbing her eyes with her left hand trying to get her vision back. She could hear the new footsteps getting close to her and carefully opened her eyes which instantly filled with tears thanks to the bright light.

* She woke up and started going crazy I was trying to help her…

Alexander said shrugging his shoulders. Looking from the outside the situation looked bad. He stared at the gun targeted at him for a few seconds and then turned his gaze to its owner. Jamal seeing his gaze brought his gun down right away.

* HELP her? by choking her? She is a patient for god’s sake…IS THAT BLOOD?!

Liam squatted next to Nyla and gently touched her shoulder checking at the wound caused by pulling out the IV. Nyla instinctively moved away. She hadn’t noticed that she was bleeding.

* It’s all right, Nyla. You are safe, I’m just trying to help you get up.

His voice sounded quite familiar and kind. She rubbed her eyes so they could get used to the light and slowly opened them again. For the first few moments, everything was blurry in her field of vision. She blinked a few times until a familiar face with caramel hair became focused. She stared at him with her mouth hanging open. What was he doing here?

* Gale is that you?

Liam gave her another smile and reached out his hand for hers. Nyla grabbed it unconsciously and suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over her.