As he emerged out onto the street, all Alain could think of was that San Antonio had turned into a literal hell on Earth. The sky was still raining warm blood, the scent of copper overpowering in the air around them, thunder and lightning cracking overhead; every time lightning struck the ground, another lesser demon rose up from the crater. All around them, gunshots and screams of panicked people filled the night, joined by bestial roars in incomprehensible tongues as the demons clashed with the citizens of San Antonio.

Several of the priests called out warnings, then turned and began to pour fire down a nearby street, towards a demon who was attempting to corner a young woman. Rounds embedded themselves in the demon's back, though it showed no reaction to any of them until a few strays hit it in the back of the skull, leaving craters in their wake. The demon slumped over, dead, and several of the priests went to assist the woman, only for Father Alex to call them back.

"Leave her!" he shouted. "We have to find the source of the ritual, otherwise the whole town is finished!"

Alain winced. He hated having to abandon innocent people, but Father Alex had a point. The other priests seemed to begrudgingly accept it as well, as they all regrouped with the rest of them soon enough.

Off in the distance, Alain saw a flash of movement; he focused in on it and found Az, soaked with demon blood, fighting off several other demons as he stood in a small pile of corpses. To Alain's amazement, Az seemed completely uninjured.

But more than that, his usual stoic demeanor had changed completely. Gone was the cold neutrality, replaced with sheer anger. It was easy to see on his face – the veins pulsing in his forehead, the clenched teeth, the red color across his face… Az was mad about something, and more than that, he was on the warpath.

"Sable, Danielle," Alain said. "Let's get going."

Both women nodded, and together, they all ran for Az, sprinting across several city blocks as they went. The sheer stench of blood was completely overwhelming, and after gagging on it one too many times, Alain raised his bandanna up to cover his nose and mouth, for what little good it would do. Danielle was in a similar state, though she was able to pull a handkerchief out of her pocket and tie it around her face, too. Sable, at least, was unaffected by the overpowering smell, though it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

Eventually, despite the carnage around them, they managed to reach Az. They got there just as he finished tearing the head off of one demon, then tossed the two halves of its body away. He stood there for a moment, panting and covered in black blood, before turning towards them.

"Took you all long enough," he growled.

"Easy," Alain said to him. "We got held up, but we're here now. Mind explaining what's going on?"

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't explain most of this – terms of my contract with Sable. But what I can tell you is this… these idiots are directly messing with the Underworld." Az spread his arms out, motioning around them. "All of this? It comes right from there. You can consider San Antonio its own little piece of hell right now."

Danielle's eyes widened. "This is what hell is like…?"

"Not exactly. This is one of the nicer parts of the Underworld. Usually, there's much more wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Sable stepped forward. "Az… how do you know this?"

"Like I said, my lady, I'm not at liberty to discuss much of this with you, given the terms of my contract. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I literally can't."

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"What can you tell us, then?"

"I'll make it simple – why do you think it is that I suddenly know so much about the Underworld? Why do you think I always act so strange whenever we have to head inside the cathedral and speak with Father Alex and his priests? You know I'm supernatural in some way, yet you've never actually tried to put the pieces together." Az looked up to the sky. "And unfortunately, as much as I'd like to keep it a secret, I don't know if I'll be able to much longer."

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Alain insisted. "Can you tell us anything about what Gibson's men may be doing?"

"Based on all this? They're attempting to open a door to the Underworld itself. And I hate to say it, but they're steadily succeeding."

"Why would they want to do that?" Danielle demanded. "Are they just stupid?"

Az shook his head. "They want power. It always comes down to that. It's the same as what happened back in that small town, before we arrived here in San Antonio – those cultists wanted to summon their dark god in the hopes that it would reward them for it. It's the same principle here, I'm sure. That or they just want to watch the world burn."

"Does the why of it really matter all that much?" Sable asked. "They need to be stopped, and that's that."

"No, it doesn't matter," Az declared. "Sable is right. Whatever their reasons are, they can't be allowed to succeed. The question is, where do we go to stop them?"

Lightning flashed across the sky once again, followed by another deafening crack of thunder. Alain winced, covering his ears. It was over as soon as it began, thankfully, but his ears were still ringing seconds later.

"There has to be something around here pointing us in the right direction," Alain declared.

Before anyone else could reply, a chorus of nearby gunshots cracked through the night. At first, he thought they were the priests firing at more demons, until he realized that Father Alex and his men still had yet to join them, and had almost certainly split off to search for a way to end the nightmare around them. He only had a moment to think about it before a flash of color across the street caught his eye.

There were several cultists, all dressed in red robes, traveling through the streets, firing at any windows they came across. To Alain's amazement, they were being flanked by several lesser demons, who were refraining from attacking them, and instead seemed to have partnered with them.

That was all he needed to see. Alain immediately shouldered his shotgun and began firing, sending a cloud of lead screaming downrange. Pellets struck cultists and demons alike, a few of the humans even collapsing to the ground dead or injured, but it wasn't enough; at that moment, the entire crowd of cultists, about five in total, snapped towards him and started to return fire. Alain pressed himself up against the wall of a nearby building, gritting his teeth as rounds cracked by his head.

He was about to call out to Sable and Az for help when they both sprinted past him, aiming directly for the crowd of enemies. Alain started to reload his shotgun, which was made harder by the blood raining down from the skies; it got all over his ammunition and inside his weapon's action, making it harder to get the shells inside the gun. After taking about twice as long as he normally would to reload, Alain again shouldered his weapon. Danielle fell in alongside him, and the two of them focused on clearing out the cultists while Sable and Az dealt with the demons in the crowd.

They were swift, and without mercy. In a matter of seconds, the demons were all dead on the floor, either missing their heads or their hearts. Az was still uninjured, but Sable was covered in steadily-forming bruises, and was panting heavily. Alain hurriedly rushed over to her side to check on her, while Danielle kept her revolver trained on the wounded cultists squirming on the ground.

"Sable," Alain said. "How bad is it?"

"I'll live," she retorted. "You?"

"Still uninjured, thankfully."

Sable let out a small exhale. "Some people have all the luck."

"Not the word I'd use." Alain looked around, his gaze landing on one of the injured cultists, who was trying to crawl away. He stepped over to the man, then stomped on his injured leg, causing him to howl in pain.

"Talk," Alain demanded.

"Fuck you," the cultist replied through gritted teeth. Despite the pain he was in, he turned towards Alain and grinned. "You're all gonna be dead soon enough, and then we will rule over your ashes."

"You're opening a door to the Underworld. If you think they're going to let you rule over anything, you're delusional. But then, what else is new for cultists?" Alain shook his head. "What happened to the priests and nuns earlier in the night?"

"What do you think happened to them?" the cultist replied, his grin growing wider. "Those fools thought they could stop us. They were wrong. And now, our master picks his teeth with their bones."

"I figured as much…" Alain lamented. "And where would we find your headquarters?"

"Fuck off."

"Come on. I'm thinking of joining you guys. I mean, I've already got my own vampire and Underworld denizen here with me."

Alain motioned to Sable and Az. The cultist looked past him, glaring at the two of them, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he snarled.

"Traitors to your kind, both of you," he spat. "The master will have no mercy for you. Antenora awaits the two of you, and-"

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay. Just tell us where we can find the rest of your group, before we let the vampire and the big guy do what they want with you."

"As if I would betray my brothers-"

Alain, finally fed up with the entire exchange, clubbed the man upside the head with the stock of his shotgun, knocking him out cold. He'd intended to simply leave him there to bleed to death from the shots to his legs, but Az apparently wasn't it, as he walked up, raised his leg, and crushed the man's head beneath it in one fell swoop, never losing the disgusted look on his face the entire time.

"Let's keep looking," Az stated. "Before we truly run out of time."

That was all he said before taking off again. Alain exchanged a glance with Sable and Danielle, but they seemed just as confused as he did, and merely offered him a shrug each. Alain's brow furrowed, but he said nothing, and instead they all again took off after Az as he once more began to sprint through the streets of San Antonio, searching for a lead.