Chapter One - Thick Fog

The weather wasn't the best that day. The sun was completely cover by grey clouds and a strong wind beated against the window of the taxi Skylar was in.

The car moved slowly since the path was rocky and full of soul holes, moreover the fog was so thick it obstructed the view. Only the edge of blocks and pubs could be seen through the fog cloud touching the ground. A bitter scent of alcohol could be smelled in the air. However, the fog didn't obscure the view of bullets of guns bursting through the pebbles and blood stains scattered here and there upon the walls. It was almost as if Skylar could picture the brawls through those signals as the taxi reached its final destination.

Empty broken bottles were on the floor and a wild strong wind shook the car making Skylar wince.

She was used to visiting cities like those, to analyze criminals and talk with them. She was used to the mafia world but that Kasyrgan was different, almost as if it was damned to be wicker than the other ones she had been to. That city was hidden from the maps, unknown to everyone except its inhabitants, no bus or train reached that cursed city making citizens unable to leave it.

A huge signal was seen afar, "welcome to Kasyrgan, get inside at your own risk of never getting out."

That anonymous city could only have one King, one only guardian, the one and only. But its name was just as unknown as that city. That cursed name was secret but his sins were very known.

He was known as Demon.

He had committed so many crimes that the police could fill entire dossiers and lock him up for the rest of his life, but only if caught.

Many policemen had been charged to find him.

But Skylar was a workaholic and she didn't lose her faith, she didn't think twice before accepting that hard task, if she would catch the murderous mafia man, her career would spike up and she would settle for life.

No more discrimination or people doubting the source of her success if she proved them wrong by capturing the baddest criminal of all time.

"We are here"

The taxi stopped in front of a pub, and as soon as the car turned off, as magic, the fog slowly raised down, allowing Skylar to see better the facade of the pub.

The driver opened his eyes widely and his mouth emanated a scream of fear watching the surface of Gates pub, he frowned his eyebrow as his breath heavened. He seemed to be on point of getting a panic attack.

"Mis-Miss T-there must be an m-mistake. This… Th-this.."

His voice trembled as if he saw a ghost.

"This is the right place thanks. How much is the ride?" Skylar asked.

The driver got pale for the fear, his eyes widened and he seemed to be having a heart stroke at anytime.

"Oh no..."

He murmured in a choke, people exited the pub, a row of criminals of a different kinds, some had their bodies completely covered in tattoos, others had their faces still bruised from fights, and a few had a clear meticulous tidy look but you could tell their criminal nature from the way they moved.

As soon as Skylar walked down the driver of the car drove away as fast as it could, not even minding getting paid for the 45-minute long ride.

The crowd of men all walked in a row in front of her and Skylar managed to stand there still. She forced herself not to shake even if the wind was so cold it could penetrate through her skin as if it was a sharp knife. Wise people would have run away just like the taxi but Skylar was not known for her wise decisions, otherwise, she wouldn't have accepted the job at all.

The army of criminals stopped in a vertical row in front of her, to form a human barrier impeding her from accessing the pub.

Did they know already who she was?

A light breeze of fear shook her, shivers of both terror and cold running down her spine and reminding her of who she put herself against. Yet no sign of him in the ocean of men waiting for a sign to attack the prey.

He was wanted since he was 12, and the police only had one picture of his appearance. A blurry portrait of him when he was 15 was the precious treasure the police held. As years passed he had trimmed the shot and no more pictures were taken since that day.

The picture of his appearance was clear in Skylar's mind, that photo had kept her awake for so many nights that she now was excited to see him. Curiosity awakened her senses and her heart was about to explode. She had learned her speech by heart, she had planned what to do and what to say to him considering all the possible turns, creating plans B, C, and even D to her main plan. Those men couldn't keep her away from the case she had worked for years on.

She was about to know the worst most wanted criminal of all time, from what she could deduce from the picture, he had dark slightly curly hair and blue deep eyes, his sharp jaw was definite and his body – then- was already fitter than the other's teenagers' bodies as if he was gifted with a greek body structure and genetic.

His particularity -the only detail that could distinguish him from the crowd – was that the shirt he wore exposed a tattoo, a black and white tattoo which filled his back and reached the bottom of his wide shoulders.

Fire and flames seemed pictured in that small corner that the shirt was revealing.

Skylar's eyes ran through the wall of faces glowering at her defiantly but she could not glimpse any of those beautiful cursed ocean eyes between them.

Maybe he wasn't there.

Where was he then?

Skylar cleared her voice, no taxi was there in case she regretted her decision, no escapement possible if things got bad. She was surrounded by those criminals and if her numerous plans failed the best thing which could happen to her was to be shot right away.

That wasn't promising well.

She lifted her chin, and one thing she learned during her training and her preparation in the police was that you cannot show fear to the enemy otherwise lost in advance.

Therefore, she showed a confident smile- the fakest one she could provide – facing and looking straight into the eyes of each man in front of her.

"I'm looking for Demon, I do not see him here."

Skylar said, with a confident loud voice so that she could be heard from the inside of that pub, in case he was inside.

No answer.

Silence.

The swishing of the wind through the glass of the bottles on the ground was the only noise perceived.

Until…