An abandoned steel mill, Sacramento.

Praetorious' eyes opened. His phone. Reynolds' phone. He dipped into his right pocket, fishing the iPhone out of his pocket. The caller ID said "A". Who was that? Praetorious had practically memorized Reynolds' contact list so that he'd know how to respond if someone called him. There was no one named "A". It was certainly bizarre.

Letting out a long breath, Praetorious fumbled with the touch screen. Normally his hands were dextrous and meticulous, surgeon's hands, but now they shook with whatever strange affliction Praetorious seemed to have. He closed his eyes again, visualizing taking Light's life. He knew that was the only way to make the sickness go away.

Finally touching the right buttons, Praetorious put the iPhone to his ear.

"Who is this?"

"Hello, Praetorious."

A was certain that this would get a shock out of her enemy. Afterall, the phone Praetorious possessed did not belong to him.

Her voice, though distinctly feminine to Praetorious's likely trained ear, was set through a disguise filter, and thus unrecognizably scrambled.

This thought brought a second smile to her face.

"I'd imagine you are feeling ill right now. This is good. I can't have you to aware and capable while I do my job. Which is quite simple, really."

A did not feel human emotion any longer. But a certain sense of delight ran through her, euphoric almost, as she felt the splintering mind of Praetorious wrack itself for answers.

"Do not alert anyone to this phone call. I would like to play a small game."

Argyle was about to speak when Praetorius' phone rang. He picked it up and began to talk, so Argyle disregarded him and wandered over to Praetorius' duffel bag, extracting a pair of clothes. Then, he sat down next to Olivia.

"Well, the basic premise of everything that is going on is really very silly on the surface. But, it's horrible on the inside. All over the world, there's a bunch of things just called Objects. They're held by Holders and sought by Seekers. If all 538 of the Objects come together... well, I'm not sure what would happen.

"The Objects sometimes have powers, sometimes don't. But either way, they have some kind of feel to them like drugs. The Seekers are like addicts. That's the gist of it. I don't know what all these monsters are exactly, but they have something to do with the Objects. Maybe Seekers that have been warped by the Objects. Can't be sure. With me so far?

"Also, I'm getting dressed, if you need to turn away."

He straightened out his clothes before dropping the cloth wrapped around him and standing up to get dressed.

"Ye-oh..." she averted her gaze at first but couldn't help but peek a little. She smirked to herself. "Yes, I'm with you." she finished. "Was the cane and 'object'? Also, what exactly are you doing with them? Are you a seeker?" she felt like she was asking too much, but since he had started the topic she decided she might as well go ahead with it. She wished he knew more about the creatures she'd seen, but oh well. This whole thing seemed a bit complicated. Another question nagged at her. If Argyle was a seeker, how did he...well really how did anyone find these things? She'd wait though and see if her question was answered when he answered a previous question. If not, she would ask.

What in hell? The caller's voice was heavily disguised, but he could tell that it was female. But who could it be? No one knew he had James Reynolds' phone. Reynolds had been found more than a month ago with a hole in his chest. The case was designated unsolvable. Who would know he had it? Did this "A" work with Jack Empty? Marnin, perhaps, another servant of Edo Edi Essum?

Praetorious' other hand went to his stomach. It wasn't pain from the stab wound Muramasa had inflicted; rather, it was his sickness spreading from his mind outward. He limped toward the mill's door, stepping outside. Damn it. "A" was right. He was not capable. He was not fully aware. He could kill Light in another forty-odd minutes. He had to hold on.

"What is it that you want exactly, 'A'?"

Argyle nodded. He noticed Olivia peek a little, and wasn't sure how he felt about it. He was fairly proud, so he smirked back a little, but also had the desire to quickly cover up. He finished dressing.

"Yes, the cane was an Object, and I'm a Seeker, I guess. I don't do it because I'm addicted though. It's a much more personal reason..."

He paused. The topic of Bayle lingered in the air, but he wasn't sure if that's something he should bring up right now.

"It's... I didn't become a Seeker of my own will. I was brought into it by force, so to speak, and my life has been going crazy ever since. I want to get the Objects to gather power, and I want to get control of my life back."

"Well it's good to know you aren't addicted I suppose. I assume Praetorius is the same." She stared of into space for awhile before she asked her next question. "So...how um...how exactly do you get your hands on these objects? Are they just laying around or what? Also, do seekers like, know other seekers when they see them? and does Elata have something to do with all this? It seems like a pretty dark world and it's...well you met her." She simply could not see the cheerful woman running around with people like this. However all these 'seekers' did seem to be a little off, and Elata was DEFINITELY a little off. She thought to the scars on red head's body. Did she get them from something to do with this? Perhaps there was more to her than Olivia thought. "Oh, one more thing, I think it's really the last thing I'm going to ask but certainly not the last thing on my mind. What exactly is up with your son?" He creeped her out. Why would he be trying to hurt his father so much? She supposed she would find out if he told her.

"No, they're not lying around. The Holders keep them, and Seekers have to track them down. You have to do certain things to get the Objects from them, and if you do one thing wrong, you'll probably die. Most Seekers seem to share information about the Holders and figure out where the Objects are and how to get them."

He sat back down and sighed a little. He was already growing weary of talking, but Olivia still deserved the information and continued.

"As for telling other Seekers apart, I really don't know. I've heard of Seekers being able to tell each other, but I wouldn't know how. It might be an instinctual thing. And my son..."

He stared at the floor and took a deep breath.

"He's how I got dragged into all of this. He was sort of 'created' by a very evil man. He did something strange to make me have a son this weird. He's like a demon. But, I didn't care for him as a child, so he resents me. He'll probably keep trying to punish me until he's dead. Not that I blame him of course. I kept him isolated for his whole childhood. But, even if he deserves to kill me, I'm not willing to die. I'll kill him instead if I have to."

And suddenly, he didn't feel like talking anymore. He locked his jaw tight and avoided Olivia's gaze. His posture spoke of his sudden unwillingness to speak, despite wanting to hide it. He didn't want to leave her in the dark, but his personal bubble had sprung back up. His body slumped a little.

"Oh...I'm sorry I asked..." He looked so...upset. It was like he just closed up completely. She patted him on the shoulder and laid down on her bed, wrapping a blanket around her. She would let him be for awhile. "I think I'll take a nap if that's alright, just so you know. I can sleep through anything so you can do whatever." she paused for awhile before saying "I....I hope you'll be alright." She wrapped herself up completely and held onto her pillow. She wasn't really that tired, but he obviously needed time alone. The bed felt good though, and she could tell her adrenaline was wearing off. She yawned and fell into a state of half sleep, praying to God that Chael wouldn't come.

"What is it that you want exactly, 'A'?"

'A' laughed. It was not a pleasant laughed, it embodied sharp objects and painful screams. Gargling throats choking on blood. Taring flesh, as something dug into the human chest.

'A' laughed like a scalpel was cutting through her chest.

"I already told you, Praetorious. I wish to play a game." Praetorious's foe paused to allow that time to sink in. She wanted him prepared for what she was about to do. She wanted him interested in her game. It was the best-- and only, as far as 'A' was concerned-- way of doing things.

"How long has it been, Praetorious? Too long, I'd imagine. Isn't the one in your head growing antsy?" She could be heard chuckling on the other end of the line. Oh, what a tangled web she would weave around Praetorious's psyche. To hear his sputtering voice respond on the other end would bring her great joy. She would soak up the energies of her ri al's mind cracking in half, dig deep into his spirit and shatter it to pieces.

This was her Ritual. The Game.

"Your enemy, Chael. He has killed Kyle A. Light, and Kathryn Anderson. Many more of your target Seekers are to die, Praetorious. Before you can get to him. Before your Shadow can be pleased. Satiated." The cold, emotionless tone to 'A's voice was impassive. She cared not for his future, but she would feign it.

"Let's not let him go hungry, shall we? I have a Seeker currently placed within Sacramento whom Chael does not know about. Nor will the boy be capable of finding him." She paused. The Game had begun.

"But you will." Now her scalpel-laugh returned one final time, and the voice filter gave it an eerie crackle. Clearly, 'A' was far better at immitating humaity than Praetorious. She had a casual wit to her which must have dug into Praetorious's skull like a knife.

"Find him within thirty minutes, and he's yours to feed to the Shadow. Fail, and he'll be gone before you even reach him. Good luck."

She had left something out. Praetorious would be clueless now, were she to keep it this way. Taking pity on the other former vessel, 'A' chimed in one last time.

"Oh. Look for him where Those Who Seek are not Seeking Objects. But Seeking retribution for evils. The place of confession. I do hope you understand that clue, Praetorious. Once again..."

The way she spoke his name was whimsical, as though he were an old friend. A teammate, an ally. She reveled in what it must do to him.

"Good luck."

Light and Andrews? It seemed as if the world had, in a day, arrayed itself completely against him. Praetorious snapped the phone shut without saying another word. His cool, collected, dispassionate shell was beginning to crack. He needed to find out "A"'s identity, who she worked for, and quickly. Full of herself as she was, she was stringing him along. It was obvious the Seeker was at a church- any idiot could figure that out. But why did she want to do this?

At the moment, though, it didn't matter. He was out of options. The sickness spread even more throughout him, and Praetorious rested a hand against the outside wall of the mill, trying to catch breath he couldn't breathe. His shadow-self was now eager, screaming at him to go to the church and take another life. But to do that... it was so unlike everything he did.

There would be no planning, no memorizing schedules. No established kill zone. No time to prepare for the Ritual. Nothing. The shell cracked again. Praetorious stumbled back into the steel mill.

Without warning, he began to cough, something that shouldn't for him have been possible. The hacking sound rang across the mostly silent mill as he shambled to his duffel bag, packing away his bloodstained saw. He knelt down, the coughing subsiding for a moment as if his shadow-self were allowing him to put together his kill equipment. The liquid inside the syringes in his pocket had fermented, and he squirted it out onto the ground. Finding a vial of the fluid, he refilled one of the needles, replacing the other in a plastic holder in his bag.

Another coughing fit wracked him as if his shadow-self were trying to tell him to hurry up, and he gathered everything together, picking up his bag. He half-waved to Argyle, stumbling out the door. He didn't bother to lock it, making a beeline for his motorcycle. Praetorious gunned the engine as he got on.

Argyle's head snapped up as Praetorius rustled around. What the hell? It didn't take a genius to know that something extremely strange was going on. Praetorius was acting far from himself. Before he could say anything though, the man had rushed from the mill and slammed the door haphazardly behind him.

Argyle didn't call out, but quickly leapt to the door and wrenched it open, only to see his companion peeling away on the motorcycle. Within seconds, he was gone, the roar of the engine fading away in the distance. Slowly, he turned back to Olivia.

"He's probably going to be back," he sighed. "But note the 'probably.' It looks like it's just you and me for now."

Olivia had popped open an eye and watched Praetorius rummage through his things quickly. She raised her head a little as she watched him almost run from the room, Argyle getting up to watch him go.

He's probably going to be back. But note the 'probably'. It looks like it's just you and me for now.

Oliva nodded. "I guess," she responded. She sat up and leaned back on her hands, her hair falling behind her shoulders. "Should we do something to prepare or anything? I'm happy to help as much as I can." she looked around the factory. "Well...I don't know about you but I think a good thing for me would be to get familiar with this place." She hauled herself back onto her wheelchair and wrapped her blanket around her. She paused for a moment to see if he would come with her, she didn't care either way really. She was certainly prepared to give him more time to himself, but he seemed to have been snapped out of his thoughts by Praetorius' actions. Olivia did think it was odd, but she hadn't known him long. "So...that was something quite strange for him to do I take it."

Argyle nodded and walked over in her direction.

"Very odd. He's usually so calm and collected... so to speak. He says he doesn't have emotions, though I'm fairly sure that's a lie. Seeing as how he was pretty upset just a moment ago.

He walked with her as she began to wheel around, but he realized he had left something important out. If Praetorius was going out to... He looked down at his metallic hand and bit his lip a little. He didn't know how she would take it.

"There's something you need to be aware of. I'm sorry I haven't mentioned it earlier, as it is pretty important. Both me and Praetorius are serial killers."

Olivia's eyes went wide. "You're....what?" she wasn't sure at first that she had heard those words but her thoughts eventually caught up with her. Serial Killers. She stopped her wheelchair and looked at Argyle. She thought of the way he was. All that he must have lost to become this...she then thought of Praetorius...what must HE have lost? She slowly shook her head. How could she possibly be okay with this?! Her mind bounced back and forth between them simply being bad people or victims of circumstance. She wouldn't find out just thinking about it. All she could think to say was, "Why?"

"I know what you're thinking. I have to admit, I sort of have to be a serial killer now. This hand..." He held up his gleaming metal hand and looked at it. "I made a deal, in order to be stronger. Now, if I don't kill three people every 500 or so days, I'll die.

"But, that's not it. I've killed people before. Sometimes if they're trying to kill me, or if I think they're trying to kill me, or if they've swindled me, or there's money involved. But even before that, I've killed for no reason at all.

"I won't kill for no reason anymore. The only people I'll kill now are the ones I need to to stay alive. Yet, I have no reservations about murdering people. You should know that. You are free to leave, but you know as well as I do that you are actually safer with us.

"As for Praetorius, I'm fairly sure he does not kill like I do. He kills Seekers, to give their Objects back to Holders. He kills them to bring balance. Yet, he doesn't care if they are good or evil. They could mean well, and I'm sure he'd still do it.

He looked back down at Olivia with strange eyes. They almost seemed to be apologizing. Somewhere in there was a vague pain, one that couldn't be expressed with words. "You don't deserve this. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is bring things like this into your life. However, you do deserve to know. You can only make the best decisions when you know all the information. That's what's behind me telling you this. I want you to make the right decisions. I don't want to keep you in the dark. That's all that's happened to me since I started Seeking. Since Chael was born. Since my wife died. I want to spare you the pain of being left in the dark. That's all."

A tear was running down his cheek.

He was crying! She looked shocked and her immediate instinct was to take his hand and hold it in hers. She thought hard about what she'd been told as she patted his hand. It seemed that they had their reasons. It was a little fucked up but...she was in a new kind of world now. For Argyle, and possibly Praetorius, it was about surviving. They had to kill to get by. Also, she didn't want to seem callous but honestly there were....too many people on this planet...losing one or two probably wouldn't make a difference. She looked up at Argyle and gave his hand a squeeze. "You know what? I..." she shook her head in disbelief of herself. "I think I'm okay with that. I mean...no one is perfect or anything and I understand. Besides you are...helping me out a lot. I don't have a right to complain." she moved next to him and put a friendly arm around his waist, as high as she could reach. "I assume you aren't going to kill me of course, nether of you seem to have a reason to...are you gonna be okay?" she was worried for his state. It must be a very emotional time for him. Besides, if she focused on his problems, hopefully she wouldn't have to overthink her own situation.

"I..." She took his hand and patted it, despite having just told her the bare truth. How could this woman be so accepting? How could she be so willing to live with such twisted people, even with no choice? She accepted it so easily, so fluidly.

"Thank you. I'll be alright. And of course I won't kill you," he added. "However, I should be the one asking if you're alright. You shouldn't have to worry about me."

He couldn't stop the tears. Why couldn't he stop the tears? He felt so weak, so pathetic, right after he'd managed to become stronger. He turned his face away.

"Oh...well I'll be alright...I think." she gave him her best smile. "Do you...want some water or anything? Kleenex?...Do we even have those things here?" she looked around. She needed to investigate this place but she couldn't just leave Argyle alone crying. He probably didn't want to be crying anyway. "Well come on, let's look around this place. I need a tour." she tugged his hand and began wheeling herself to where she thought the bathrooms might be. If there were any...

"Yeah, let's go ahead and look around," he said nodding. He took a deep breath and tried to get himself under control. He didn't need to lose himself like this at this point.

Praetorius had left, so they were still quite vulnerable. Chael or Muramasa could appear at any point, and he needed to have his wits about him, especially when he had someone to protect. He wiped his eyes, and thankfully, no more came spilling out.

He was glad to have Olivia around. Praetorius was good company, but he felt even more comfortable now. Finally, someone sane. He found himself smiling at her a little, which caught him off guard. He quickly tried to dismiss it and began to walk around the mill with her.

It was almost midnight by the time Praetorious pulled up to the steel mill at last. The white and black of the police cruiser gleamed in the moonlight, the clashing juxtaposition seeming to take on a sinister meaning now that the officer of peace it was supposed to symbolize was encased in a body bag in the trunk. The killer opened the driver's side door, managing to extricate his motorcycle from the back seat after a few minutes' work. After leaning it against the outside wall of the mill, he leaned against it himself, closing his eyes for a moment.

The calmness had returned, the pervasive peacefulness that always followed the Ritual filling him. Whatever emotions Praetorious still had were far away from him again, things that could be picked up and analyzed dispassionately. He was calm, empty, peaceful. He was safe again. In the world Praetorious knew, the one he lived in, emotion had no place. He couldn't afford to have weakness, doubt, distractions. Praetorious didn't know what to do with emotions they weren't something he could use, something he could take advantage of, something he could understand and analyze. He couldn't control them. So, he kept them distant, away from him. And it worked. The dead calm returned, and even the thrill of the Ritual's execution had passed.

Opening his eyes again, Praetorious opened the trunk of the police cruiser, lifting out the body bag. Leaving it in the car posed far too many problems. What if it was found? If the cruiser alone was found, Praetorious, Argyle, and Olivia would be able to hide in the mill, and no one would be any the wiser. If the body was found inside of it, however, there would be a far more advanced investigation. Praetorious knew how police got when one of their own was murdered.

And it was far too late to dispose of the body. If he wanted to make it untraceable, Praetorious would need to eradicate all of its identifying marks first. It was far too late to begin an operation like that now- and he didn't have any trash bags. He carried the bag easily to the door of the mill, the bag slung over his shoulder. Opening the steel door with one hand, he stepped inside, giving the darkened room a cursory glance about. He couldn't see Argyle or Olivia, but that was probably because they were somewhere among the machinery.

His voice seemed to have contain even less emotion than before when he spoke.

"Olivia? Argyle?"

Argyle looked up suddenly when Praetorius called out. He hadn't expected him back so soon. He and Olivia were still looking around the mill when he returned, and Argyle came out to greet him.

"Hey," he said. "You doing alright?" The greeting was meant as both a casual greeting and an honest question. After leaving so suddenly, he didn't know what to expect. "We've just been looking around and getting acquainted with the place."

Praetorious sighed, looking for a place to set the bag down. "I'm much better," he said. "I've just never gone that long without..." he trailed off, though not for Argyle's sake. Praetorious knew he probably wouldn't mind. Or care. But for some reason, he wasn't sure of the right words with which to articulate it. "Killing" was far too blunt an expression. The word meant none of the things that Praetorious felt. He had killed the policeman. What he had done to the seventeen-year-old altar boy... he wasn't sure. He had ended his life, most definitely, but all of the feeling, the emotion, the sense of being wholly alive for but a split second... Praetorious didn't think that there were words for that. With this in mind, Praetorious appended his sentence with a vague gesture of his hand. He was sure Argyle got the idea.

"I have to admit I don't know absolutely everything about the mill. However, there is a spigot at about my height at the very back. As far as I can tell, the water's quite clean. Beyond that, though, I don't know a whole lot about the section more densely filled with machines." He thought about the encounter with Chael. "Although I probably should."

Praetorious walked into the steel mill with Argyle, picking up the bag again. He found a small corner out of the way, and put it down there, where it would only be found through knowing where it was.

It then occurred to Praetorious that he hadn't slept in more than forty-eight hours. He'd stayed awake longer, of course, and he'd never actually passed out, but he found that he functioned better if he slept, even if only for fifteen minutes or so. Of course, after the altar boy, he might sleep a little longer.

After Argyle responded Olivia rolled out from behind a large pipe. "Ah. You look a LOT better. Good to see." she gave a half smile and continued back into the machinery. She heard him comment on a spigot and headed towards the back. locating it quickly. The spigot and area around it was quite dirty. She wrinkled her nose a bit and turned the one handle for it. "Ah!" she exclaimed laughing as ice cold water hit her in the face. She rolled backwards quickly. The water came spitting out in short bursts before finally settling into a brisk even flow. She got out her cell phone for a little light and watched the water. It did indeed seem clean, but she was hoping she didn't have to shower in this. She wiped the water from her face and turned off the spigot, heading back to Argyle. "Hey. I think i saw a couple more buildings behind this one. I'm going to go check them out. You don't have to come if you don't want to. " She looked around. A LOT of this was actually quite dirty. Praetorius probably didn't care, but she didn't like it much. While these two were off decreasing the population maybe she could do some cleaning. It didn't seem like there would be much else all the way out here. She glanced around at the stairways and ladders. She might have to assign them some cleaning as well.

"Yeah, I'll come with," said Argyle, nodding. He needed to get out and walk around a bit anyway. It wasn't that he felt stiff or sore, simply restless. He was also simply anxious to try out his new body. Perhaps within the next couple days, he could make a sacrifice or two.

"If you need anything, just holler," he said to Praetorius, before walking with Olivia.

---

Marnin rested in the crutch of a tree branch several blocks away. A was spending time in Las Vegas, and he knew he could find her with no trouble, so he came back here to watch Praetorius. He had been allowed to satisfy himself with the altar boy and the cop, but it didn't take him long to realize something about Praetorius that he could exploit.

In one hand was a high-powered rifle. In the other, a heavy receiver that he had stolen from a police cruiser, personally rigged to a battery. With that hand, he raised the receiver and flicked it on.

"Officer Stewart's vehicle has been spotted at an abandoned steel mill, northern Sacramento. Units, please respond."

"10-4," came the response. "Who is the officer on location?"

"I repeat, Officer Stewart's vehicle has been spotted." Before the dispatcher could question him further, he gave the address and flicked the receiver off.

Now, he need only wait and watch. He would watch as Praetorius would continue run about, and with the rifle, he would keep the man from his satisfaction. He raised the scope to his eye to test it out.

There would be no rest for the wicked tonight.