Previous excursions down into the dungeon had taught Sehun to be wary of the cells. Some criminals– especially those on death roll– were too eager to add one more crime to their pile. In the past, out of curiosity Sehun had followed Taemin down here, a criminal had nearly choked him to death, if not for the guards that were quick to act. The footing could prove tricky as well. Every cell rested on a slightly raised platform. But even fully recessed, the platforms posed the hazard of tripping people forward into the bars of a cell.       "Don't get too close to the cells" Baekhyun that was walking silently behind him warned. Stepping into a special room, Sehun wrinkled his nose from the odor coming off. The cells Sehun kept his own criminals were far better than this. This was a place were hardcore criminals were tortured. The death dealer was on a wooden table, both hands and legs tied with magical ropes, making him appear like a starfish. He only had his pants on, and everywhere on his body was bloodied, eyes swollen shut. Minho, Jungkook and Yuri were in discussion. "How's Rue doing?" Yuri asked, the moment Kai was close enough. "Resting and refusing to see anyone." The emperor said with a sigh. The second consort had been released from cold palace. It surprised Sehun but he was actually the one that asked to let her go. Maybe it was because he was pregnant and could relate how it felt to be confined when your emotions were all over the place. He had experienced it and didn't wish her to go through it, even though he wasn't hundred percent sure she didn't have a thing to do with everything. Yuri nodded, with a frown. "I will try later and see if she'll allow me to meet her."If the female shadow guard wasn't married to Kai's sister, Sehun would have thought Yuri had a thing for Rue. It was probably just strong friendship, similar to the one he shared with Baekhyun. Kai hummed. "Please do that." He patted her shoulder. "How's our prisoner doing?" The shadow guards bowed, stepping aside for the two to have a clear view of the detained. From what Kai had told Sehun, the man was being controlled by a blood mage. They had tried to separate the parasite from his brain, but it had proven difficult. Meaning, for some reason the assassin had willingly let himself get infested. Unlike the guards– during Jang's attack –under Sehun. It had been relatively easy to return them to how they were. They've learned little to nothing from this man other than his name. The mastermind knew what they were doing and took every precaution to prevent anything from leading back to them. Not even Namjoon could pry the truth out of the assassin. "He's going to be executed by sunrise." Kai said, a hand at the small of Sehun's back. "Can I try?" Sehun asked, his eyes on the Death dealer. "You want to question him?" The surprise in Kai's tone was almost funny. Like he couldn't believe Sehun was up to such task. Or probably wondering how Sehun was going to get the truth out of him, when Sehun couldn't get anything out of ones in his custody. Sehun nodded. He had other ideas to deal with this man.  "By all means." The emperor made a gesture. Minho frowned but kept his opinion to himself, he stepped aside after a quick glance at Kai. Stepping forward, Sehun took note of the eyes watching as well the surveillance cameras all around the dungeon. He pulled out his dagger and slashed the man's throat. "What –" "Sehun?" "The he's done?"  Kai and his shadow guards exclaimed, as Kai grabbed his hand, the one holding the weapon like doing so would stop the man from dying. "Heal him quick." Kai yelled, releasing Sehun to place a hand on the man's slit throat. "No don't. Let him die." Sehun said. "What in the name of the Goddesses are you getting at?" Kai gazed at Sehun, doubt and confusion etched into his face. He wanted to trust Sehun, Sehun could see that. "You'll find out soon enough." With indifference, Sehun watched blood poured out, wetting Kai's hand as he tried and failed to stop the bleeding. "We needed him alive." Kai muttered. "He's no use to us alive." Sehun shrugged. "Besides you said he's going to be executed tomorrow." "That's because I wanted to scare him into giving us something." Kai's eyes stayed on Sehun for a while, like wanting to understand what was going on in Sehun's head. When the man stopped moving, Sehun waved a hand to Baekhyun that was stood by the door watching the whole thing without a word. "He's all yours." Kai whipped around. “What do you mean by that?” "He isn't good to us alive maybe we could find something now that he's dead." The assassin was as good as dead anyways, Sehun was certain there was no way he was going to be let out.They might as well speed things up. "Kai I don't think necromancy is the way." Minho murmured, eyes gazing at Baekhyun with something that rub Sehun the wrong way."It goes against everything I believe and live for." "I am no necromancer." Baekhyun almost snapped. There was a difference, necromancers were mages that chose the wrong side. They dealt with death solely for their own selfish desires and anyone willing to pay. While a death mage was someone chosen by the goddess of fire to fight her cause– like a paladin– given the powers of death not because they chose it but because the goddess had Faith, her champion wouldn't use it for bad cause. It was an insult to Baekhyun, to assume he was a lowly necromancer when he wasn't anything like one. And Sehun wasn't going to let it slide. Well until Baekhyun placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "Let it be. He just lacks the appropriate knowledge to know the difference." Kai sent Minho a hard look and the chief of security sighed. "I apologize." He said to Baekhyun  With a single bob of his head in halfhearted acceptance, Baekhyun ripped off his glove and pulled out his knife. He sliced the blade down his palm and slammed his hand to the man's chest. Black smoke billow before him. They shifted backward with the sudden displacement of air.  The impact was jarring, and his bloodied palm scraped against the dead body. Nothing happened, Sehun thought for a second that Baekhyun's magic had gone wrong, except he hadn't even started yet. The spell fizzled out, unspent. The smoke coalesced into a shadow standing above him, and a pair of rotted leather boots before his eyes. Mouth gone dry, they all looked up into blood-red eyes in a dead white face. "Your name!" Baekhyun asked, and the soul jerked forward, as though to hurt him, but it didn't, couldn't. It reeled, shaking its head as though in pain, then faded. "What the ? It didn't say." Sehun said confused. Baekhyun had never failed, he had faith in his friend's ability, which was why he confidently killed the assassin knowing Baekhyun could raise his soul. It meant one thing. It was clear someone knew of Baekhyun's ability to raise the dead and had prevented him from finding out. More reason to be certain they were dealing with an unknown powerful foe. "I will have to try something else." Baekhyun said to Sehun. "What?" Minho asked, looking slight uncomfortable. Baekhyun bit his lip. "I can reanimate him for a minute and ask.” “Absolutely not.” Minho moved closer, standing between Baekhyun and the body. "I'll let you do anything not counter to my oath, but raising the dead is a few ing miles across the line.” He glanced at Kai. “For sake It’s not raising the dead the way you think,” Baekhyun snapped, then took a shuddering breath, forcing himself to calm down. Minho flinched back from the movement. “Just tell me, how is reanimating the dead different from raising the dead?" Was he thinking Baekhyun was really some necromancer in disguise? Another deep breath, before Baekhyun snapped again. Minho's questions were reasonable if he didn't have the knowledge like Baekhyun had said earlier. "I’d just be waking up his body, and relying on the body’s memories. What his eyes saw, what his ears heard. It won’t be him, with any personality or emotions. Just the body’s record of his last few weeks. it doesn't have a soul, as you've seen disappeared before us." "Stop being grumpy and let the kid do his thing." Yuri grabbed Minho by the neck. Minho was still frowning, but he said, “All right.” Well Sehun had been ready to use his authority as Kai's concubine to make the shadow guard back down. There was no way he would miss the opportunity to interrogate this dead assassin.  With the help of Jungkook, Baekhyun lay the dead body on the floor. Baekhyun knelt at the man’s side and reached out, but stopped before touching him.  “I’m going to touch his chest again and restart his heart and lungs enough for him to talk to us,” Baekhyun explained. Sehun knew damn right the guardian was explaining himself, because he didn't want to put Sehun in a tight spot. “He’ll probably gasp and choke at first. It’s disturbing, but it doesn’t last long.” “Good to know,” Minho said.  “Should I do anything?” Sehun asked, stepping forward. "Could hold onto me while I do it? And place one hand on the dead man. The contact will help start the spell.” “Alright.” Sehun crouched down behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder, the other on the man. Baekhyun took a deep breath to steady his nerves, then pressed his own palm against the center of the dead man’s chest. The man’s skin warped and sagged from the impact of Baekhyun's power. Like it spent a week in the river, then a week out of it. The eyes were the only part of him that looked alive, glittering as they fix on Baekhyun.  The body was cold and Sehun resisted the urge to take his hand away. Baekhyun closed his eyes and call on the magic within him. It answered eagerly,  visibly running down his arm, piercing bloodlessly through the dead body. “Wake blood and breath,” he whispered in Hella. “Give me your voice. Give me your time in the name of my goddess.” The last word hadn’t left his lips when the body seized up, a horrible gurgling sound rising from throat. Ichor dribbled black from the corners of corpse's mouth, and Sehun could see the tendons and muscle in the exposed throat work as it struggled to speak. The mouth opened, spit and blood flied into the dark beard. His eyes didn't move, still dead and sightless on Baekhyun, but when the convulsion ends, the faint rise and fall of breath remained. "Mothers,” Sehun whispered, taking his hand off the body. His hand was tensed on Baekhyun's neck. “We have about a minute.” Baekhyun said faintly, but far stronger than he would be without Sehun at his back. He said louder, “What were you doing just now?” Wet breath rattle through the body’s throat. Words come with it, rumbling echoes of a deep, strong voice: “I was laying in pain. I want to head home, and then everything stops." “Where is home?” "Not here,” the assassin said. He didn't sound lost, just a matter of fact The smell of death magic was overpowering. Sehun resist the urge to cover his nose. "What do you want me to ask?" Baekhyun said. Sehun sent the question through their link and Baekhyun asked them out loud since he was the only one the dead listened to. "Where is your master?" “I don’t know,” the dead man said again. Either he didn't remember, or he had been prevented to tell even in death.  Sehun considered his questions carefully. "Baekhyun ask him if Rue is the mastermind or is she just a pawn." The death mage did. “Yes.” The ribcage heaved. "Yes what?"  "A pawn."  Kai was right then. But why was Sehun having a hard time accepting she didn't have something to do all this? "Tell me are you sent to assassinate the emperor?" "Emperor." The man repeated, like he had no idea who Baekhyun was taking about"No, just to stir things." Whatever the that meant. "Now try to remember the person that orders you to do that." The man's entire body twitched with some remembered reflex. "Reddick did." "Who is Reddick?" "He's my lover." The man responded. "There was a woman with a scar on her hand, she's always with Red." "What's her name." "Mistress.” Sehun's hand tensed again on Baekhyun's neck as he tried to recall anyone that fit the description. The Fire-Hound swallowed, but kept going with the questions, not wanting to waste any time. "Red, is he a blood mage?" "Yes." the dead man sighed lips barely moving. Sehun frowned asking. "Did he ever told you about the mistress?" Baekhyun repeated the question. “Nothing,”the dead man said  "What else can you remember about the mistress? Her face perhaps." “I saw nothing.” His voice grew fainter as he spoke, and his ribcage shuddered weakly under Baekhyun's hand. "Where can I find this Red? " Baekhyun asked quickly. It seem the spell was wearing off. "East." "The street or House number." "Third –" But with one final rattle, the dead man slumped motionless once more.  That was it, that was all they got. "Damn it." Baekhyun said. The flow of cold power cut off, the last of it recoiling up Baekhyun's arm. Baekhyun hung his head, counting his breaths as his power resettled beneath his heart.  "That's it?" Kai asked, Baekhyun was silent for a long moment, even after Sehun stood up. Eventually he said, "That's it." "We got a general location to look. Maybe Kyungsoo can use something of him–" Yuri gestured to the body. "To help us?" "Whomever sent him knew of Kyungsoo's powers, I am certain they wouldn't let the man carry anything that would take us several steps forward." Sehun crossed his arms over his chest. "I think we have to do with what we got." "Have you made any progress on your part?" Minho asked, glancing at Sehun. "I am afraid not." "What of the girl? She must have seen something." Jungkook meant Mina. Baekhyun stiffened, glaring at Jungkook. They've thought of it too, have tried to ask her, but she wasn't responding well. If only it seemed to agitate her. Thus Sehun shook his head. "Not her." "Why? Is there –" Jungkook began to say but was cut off by Kai. "If Sehun says so, then so be it." The emperor extended a hand and Sehun as if on autopilot went into Kai's arm. It seem to please him, as he pulled Sehun even closer. "Thank you Death mage." Kai dipped his head in Baekhyun's direction. "Bury the body and Minho you should take your team to investigate East Bay." "I want to join them." Sehun said. Kai leaned close to Sehun's ear to say"You don't have to my dear .You have a wedding to prepare for." Right Irene's, that was a few days away. And the tingle in his chest had nothing to do with Kai calling him dear. It absolutely didn't.
*** Sehun cried, he ing wailed watching his sister tie the knot, seeing her and her wife danced together during the party, seeing the accepta