The rain had washed the blood away, but Sera still saw it.
A dark outline—imagined or remembered—stained the cracked pavement as she stepped into the narrow alley, the one the police had called "a random mugging gone wrong."
She knew better.
She had always known better.
Her breath ghosted in the cold air as she crouched down, gloved fingers brushing the ground where Liam's body had collapsed three weeks ago. The city hummed around her—sirens, engines, distant shouting—but inside this alley, everything was dead silent.
Except for her.
"Liam…" Her voice broke. "I'm here."
She didn't cry. The tears had dried out days ago, leaving only something harder behind—sharp, cold, metallic. Grief was supposed to fade. Hers didn't. It mutated.
Sera straightened, staring down the length of the alley.
This place stank of rot, piss, and lies.
The cheap camera mounted on the wall above her had "malfunctioned" that night. The two shop owners who lived closest to the alley "didn't see anything." The police said the case was "low priority."
She dug her nails into her palms.
Everyone was lying.
Everyone was afraid.
She wasn't.
A sudden crunch of footsteps echoed behind her.
Sera spun instantly, hand inside her jacket where she kept the small knife she now carried everywhere. Her heart pounded once, violently, then steadied as a figure stepped into view.
A man in a hooded jacket, cigarette glowing between his fingers.
He froze when he saw her.
She recognized him—one of the neighborhood's small-time dealers. Liam used to complain about him always lingering near the alley.
The man blinked at her. "You shouldn't be here."
Sera's voice was flat. "Why not?"
"It's… Crow territory." He glanced around nervously. "People go missing for trespassing."
The Crows.
One of the ruling gangs of Blackridge.
Her pulse jumped, but not from fear—hope.
A savage, reckless kind.
"Did the Crows kill him?" she asked quietly.
The dealer stared at her as if she were suicidal. "Lady, I didn't see anything."
Sera stepped closer. "You hesitated."
"I—look, I don't want trouble."
"You have it now." Her eyes were cold. "Tell me what you know."
He took a shaky drag of his cigarette. "All I know is—"
His words cut off as another pair of footsteps entered the alley from the opposite end.
Heavy. Controlled. Confident.
The dealer's face drained of color. "Shit."
Sera turned.
A tall man in a black coat walked toward them, rain dripping off his shoulders. His posture relaxed, but every movement coiled with purpose, like he owned the ground he walked on.
The closer he came, the more the air changed—thicker, colder, expectant.
Sera's breath caught.
She didn't know who he was, but she knew what he was.
Danger.
He stopped a few feet from her, eyes settling on her with unnerving calm. His voice was smooth, low, and lethal.
"You're standing in Crow territory," he said. "And demanding answers you shouldn't be asking."
The dealer instantly backed away. "Lucien—I swear—I didn't say anything—"
Lucien.
Sera went still.
She had heard that name whispered, always with fear.
Lucien Crow.
Leader of The Crows.
The most dangerous man in Blackridge.
Lucien didn't even look at the trembling dealer. His attention stayed locked on her.
"You're not one of mine," he said. "So who are you?"
Sera lifted her chin. "Someone who lost someone in this alley."
For a heartbeat, the rain seemed to pause.
Lucien's expression didn't change, but something flickered in his eyes. Interest. Calculation. Maybe even recognition.
"And you think coming here alone will give you answers?" he asked.
"I think standing anywhere else won't."
A slow, dangerous smile touched his lips.
"Brave," he said softly. "Or reckless."
"Determined."
Lucien stepped closer—one deliberate stride that brought him into her space, close enough that she could see the rain on his lashes, the faint scar along his jaw, the cold intelligence behind his eyes.
He spoke quietly.
Too quiet.
"People who dig into this alley tend to end up dead."
Sera didn't flinch. "Then I'll die trying."
Lucien watched her for a long moment.
Then he said something she didn't expect—something that felt like a verdict.
"…Interesting."
He turned his back to her, signaling the dealer to follow. But before he left, he paused.
Without looking at her, he said:
"If you want answers, don't come back to this alley."
A beat.
"Come find me instead."
Sera's heart thudded.
Lucien walked away, disappearing into the rain as if the alley itself swallowed him.
The dealer scrambled after him.
Sera stood alone, breath uneven, blood humming.
She came looking for the truth.
Instead, she'd found a monster.
But monsters had answers.
And she was done being afraid of them.