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“Yeah.” His smile held no humor as he wiped blood from his face. “Whatever it is, it's not trying to stop us from leaving. Which means it wants us to escape.”

The asylum's corridors were eerily silent now, the possessed scientists lying unconscious where they'd fallen. All except one. The sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere behind us, unhurried and deliberate. My mark pulsed in response, a warning I couldn't explain to the others.

“She's toying with us,” Sean muttered as we navigated the maze of hallways. “Could catch us if she wanted.”

“Not exactly comforting,” I replied, checking another corner before waving them forward.

Lex moved like a shadow despite his designer suit, checking our exit route. “Clear to the service door. Twenty meters.”

We made it out into the pre-dawn air, the asylum's bulk looming behind us like a tombstone against the lightening sky. None of us spoke until we'd put several blocks between us and whatever we'd just encountered.

“That wasn't normal possession,” Sean finally said, leaning against a brick wall to catch his breath. Blood had dried onhis face, and his skin had taken on an unhealthy pallor from channeling so much power.

“Never seen anything shrug off an exorcism like that,” Lex agreed, checking his phone for signals. Still dead.

I kept watch while they recovered, the mark on my chest still burning cold. Each pulse seemed to be counting down to something inevitable, something I couldn't yet understand. The weight of research I'd done over the years felt suddenly inadequate against what we'd just faced.

“We need to regroup,” I said finally. “Figure out what we're really dealing with.”

Sean nodded, pushing off from the wall with only a slight waver. “Yeah. But something tells me we're not going to like the answers.”

The sun was rising over Manhattan, painting everything in shades of gold and shadow. Behind us, the asylum waited like a cancer in the city's heart. And somewhere inside, something ancient watched us retreat, wearing a scientist's skin like an ill-fitting suit.

We had survived. For now.

But as my mark throbbed with renewed intensity, I knew this was just the beginning of whatever had been set in motion. And I wondered, not for the first time, what exactly had claimed me that night in the snow.

18

UNVEILED TRUTHS

The elevator ride to CITD's executive floor felt endless. Every ding marked another level between me and answers I wasn't sure I wanted. My clothes were stiff with dried blood and whatever the hell had been in those tunnels, and exhaustion pulled at every muscle.

Sean's presence at my back was steady, grounding. For once, he wasn't making smartass comments about federal bureaucracy or complaining about having to play nice. Even Lex had dropped his usual fixer's swagger.

The lights were still on in Sterling's office despite the ungodly hour. Through the glass walls, I could see him at his desk, suit perfect even at midnight, reading a file like this was any other evening. Like his agent hadn't just crawled out of hell's basement with a hunter and an information broker in tow.

My stomach clenched as we approached. How many times had I stood in this doorway, carefully sanitizing my reports of anything supernatural? How many lies had I told the man who'd been more father than mentor since I'd joined CITD?

Sterling didn't look up as we entered, but I caught the slight tension in his shoulders. He'd been waiting for us.

“Director,” I started, but my voice caught. What could I even say? 'Sorry for tracking demon ichor on your carpet' didn't quite cover it.

“Shut the door,” Sterling barked, not bothering to look up as he closed the file he'd been reading. I caught a glimpse of the label. It was my name, in stark black letters.

The click of the latch felt like sealing a tomb. Sean shifted behind me, and I didn't need to look to know his hand was near one of his concealed blades. Old habits die hard, especially for hunters in federal buildings.

“So,” Sterling said finally, looking up to study us with cold calculation. His eyes locked on the blood on my sleeve, the cuts on Sean's face, the way Lex positioned himself with clear sightlines to both exits. “Finally decided to drag your sorry asses in here after nearly getting yourselves killed?”

“Sir, I can explain...”

“Save it,” Sterling snapped. “You look like you went ten rounds with a meat grinder and lost.”

Sterling stood with deliberate grace, moving to the large abstract painting that dominated his office wall. I'd always thought it was just decoration. But as his fingers found hidden catches in the frame, I realized how blind I'd been.

The safe behind the painting was military-grade, its surface covered in symbols that made my mark burn with recognition. Protection wards. Containment sigils. The kind of magic that contradicted everything in the CITD's official stance on the supernatural, etched permanently into a government building's infrastructure.

“You knew.” The words tasted like ash. “All this time, you knew about everything?”