The shadow kept moving… as long as the falling sand of an hourglass, the train kept moving with the momentum of calm flowing water in a blocked dam.

A panicking Beatrice kept shooting aimlessly.

'W-What is this thing!? I have to protect Andrew!'

Everyone panicked, shouting, baby cries and chaos, they all could see that shadow that loomed on them with the silhouette of a tall man that barely fitted in the constricted space of the wagon.

Andrew looked left and right, up and above but there was nowhere to go, he then heard the voice of that hideous thing again, it was far away, but he and Sophia could almost hear it as if it was speaking beside them.

"I SHALL HAVE THE CUSTODY SOON, ANDREW~ SOON ENOUGH THAT PESKY CONTRACT WILL BE OVER".

Words she directly ignored, pulling Beatrice to the far end of the wagon, making as much distance as possible from that thing just like everyone else was doing.

The train would soon arrive at the station, but it felt as if it was moving at turtle speed!

In the meantime, the 'thing' settled its eyes on a groaning 'Sasha' who for the first time, had eyes that resembled humanity.

'S-Sophia…'

Those were her words, directed towards the faraway girl, her friend.

'Sasha!' This time the ghost didn't recognise the shadow as a monster, that voice had been genuinely Sasha's, even if for but a moment.

"Sophia don't go! It is dangerous!"

Andrew wasn't about to let her just jump in the way of that thing.

...

"UGH!"

As fast as she came, she was gone… the shadow groaned and held her head painfully, constricting away from the pointy stakes that were piercing her.

"This isn't over, Dealer!"

She jumped out of the train, phasing through the gates and into the dark tunnel.

"YOUR NETHERBEAST KIND IS ALWAYS SO STUBBORN, GET EATEN OBEDIENTLY FOR ONCE. A PITY, RIGHT ANDREW?"

The boy wasn't at all focused on whatever that monster was saying, instead he noticed the train finally arrived and he was pressing that button to open the doors faster than anything in his whole life.

When the doors finally opened, Sophia did the rest, recklessly pulling a confused Beatrice and Andrew away from the wagon, shooting like a rocket through the station, all under the gaze of the amused 'Dealer'.

"HMN… A HIGHER SPIRIT AND A NETHERBEAST AT THE SAME TIME, SAME PLACE. IT WILL BE WORTHWHILE DEVOURING THEM… KEEP GROWING MISSY, UNTIL WE SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN~"

**

**

"AAAAHHH!!"

Beatrice didn't know what was happening, not at all. One moment she saw a shadow that looked like some monster, the next she was shooting out of a station like a directed missile, the last she was flying across the sky.

Perhaps she had smoked weed once or twice in her life, but it never took her this high.

"…"

"…"

Andrew and Sophia were hectic, focused on their own thing but it was difficult to concentrate when there was this girl shouting beside them relentlessly. He had already flown with Sophia before so he was used, that wasn't the case for the beautiful cashier.

"AAAAHHH!!"

'Can you tell her to shut up? If I lose focus we're going to fall and she will have true reasons to shout!'  The irritated Sophia started to fly higher while Andrew took Beatrice, stopping them from falling while they were effortlessly pulled by Sophia.

"Beatrice-"

"AHHH!!"

"Beatrice… calm down! there is no more danger!" he stated, then looked down at the faraway ground and reconsidered his words.

Sophia, now out of danger and assured, started to fly higher across the Bronx's buildings, increasing Beatrice's fright. She screamed louder.

'My goodness, you never took a flight before?'

"This and a plane aren't the same thing, Sophia can you find somewhere to land?".

Heeding his words Sophia landed in the courtyard of a small building, someone's apartment, luckily there wasn't anyone home.

The moment they touched the ground, it was as if the girl couldn't take it anymore. All her tensions were released instantly, Beatrice dropped the gun and collapsed.

'Perfect…' Sophia mocked while Andrew held the fallen woman. He inspected everything was okay, her heart was still palpitating, and she merely had a stupor.

…

"What was that thing?" Andrew leaned on the rail, the view of the nightly Bronx as eerie as ever, even more so now after such close contact.

Sophia did much the same and Beatrice was still 'sleeping'.

'I don't know… regardless of the shadow or that thing with red eyes, both were frightening. It also didn't follow us'

"I don't see anything, I reckon if it wanted to follow us, we wouldn't have escaped".

'Everyone else could see it too, that thing… wasn't concealing himself'.

"…"

'Andrew, that thing said it would get your custody, what does that mean?' Sophia went closer, leaning on it to accentuate her doubt; she thought those were key words which upon recalling them, Andrew realised such a thing did happen and it wasn't reassuring.

"I have no idea, Sophia… it also protected us from Sasha. We can't say for certain it is evil" he scratched his head, "I don't know what would have happened if that thing hasn't appeared, maybe Sasha would have killed us".

'Are you insane!? Do you still doubt it!? both of them are bad, they're just one worse than the other' She declared, feeling way more fright than him, perhaps due to her nature as a ghost she was more sensible to threats than he was.

"Anyway, it is already two o'clock… let's go home. Do you know the way back?"

'I do, but... what are we going to do with this woman?'

"Of course, we're taking her with us, she still has to answer a couple of questions, moreover we don't know where her actual place is".

With no other option, Andrew held the collapsed Beatrice, carefully putting the gun in his pocket after securing it. Thankfully, the Beretta, Beatrice's gun, was quite easy to secure according to Sophia.

**

**

The woman's eyes stirred awake and Beatrice found herself in a dark room.

!!!

She shot awake, stretching her hand to find something that wasn't within reach. In her mind, there were those accursed blood-red eyes, haunting her.

The beauty peeked around but couldn't find her gun anywhere. Recalling what had happened, Beatrice inspected the room and noticed it was a rather luxurious place. However, she recognised this place.

"Andrew!" Beatrice stood up and walked out with hasty steps, going into the living room that was already dark, there she found Andrew sleeping on a sofa downstairs.

He was in disarray, his clothes still the same as he wore during the evening. Dead asleep.

However, she thought that wasn't the case, she thought the worst.

"Andrew, are you okay!? please answer me!" She technically jumped down the stairs to stir him awake and the boy shot up like he had been thrown a bucket of chilling water.

"Ah!"

"You're okay, thank god!"

Beatrice hugged the confused boy tightly and they both fell on the sofa.

"B-Beatrice your boobs!"

She didn't give a fart, hugging him and crying. Andrew realised that she had been scared the whole time.

'It must have been horrible…'

Andrew sighed and embraced her in the dark living room, naturally... Beatrice didn't notice Sophia who was sleeping on the other side of the sofa quite comfortably.

"You have a lot of things to explain, boy!"

"And so do you, Beatrice... I haven't forgotten".

"Yours is way more important than mine! t-that wasn't a dream, was it?"

"It wasn't".

"Ugh! I was hoping it was..."

Beatrice finally separated herself, blushing a little when she noticed the position they were. She made her distance and fixed herself, both of them remained in silence. There was a lot to explain, but the night had just started.