Chapter 15 Coffee Shop Encounter
Thaddeus's POV
She's already sitting in the corner booth when I arrive.
Lumiel burns cold in my chest. "That's her. The source. Kill her now before she spreads more infection."
"Not yet," I mutter under my breath.
I study Cressida Halloway through Lumiel's vision. To normal humans, she looks like a tired young woman hunched over coffee. But I see the truth—black veins crawling under her skin like poisoned roots. Her shadow stretches too far and moves half a second behind her body. When she lifts her cup, her fingers end in tips just slightly too sharp.
Stage Two transformation. Maybe early Stage Three.
She's dying. Turning into something monstrous. And she has no idea how little time she has left.
I should walk over and end this. One clean strike. The celestial blade through her heart. She'd die instantly. Painlessly. The infection would stop spreading.
Instead, I order coffee and sit down across from her.
"You came," she says quietly. Her eyes flick to the exits. Planning escape routes.
"You came too. That took courage." I set my coffee down slowly. Nonthreatening. "Most contractors run when I find them."
"I'm tired of running." She meets my gaze. Those eyes flash black for just a moment. "You sent me that photo of Isolde. The black veins on her hands."
"I needed you to understand what you're doing to her."
"I'm not doing anything!" Her voice cracks. "I saved her. I gave her purpose. She's happy now."
"She's infected with devil corruption. In three weeks, maybe less, she'll transform into a Hollow One. She'll kill everyone she loves and not even remember why." I lean forward. "Is that happiness?"
Cressida's hands shake. "There has to be a way to cure it. To stop the transformation."
"There's only one way. Kill the source before the infection manifests in secondary victims." I let that sink in. "You die, they live. Simple math."
She laughs bitterly. "So you're giving me a choice? Die willingly or you'll kill me anyway?"
"No. I'm telling you the truth because you deserve to know." I take a sip of coffee, buying time. Lumiel screams in my head to attack, but I ignore it. "Your brother. Landry. He's getting worse."
Tears fill her eyes. "I know. I check on him every day through the hospital cameras. He's completely feral now."
"Because you infected him first. Longest exposure time." I pull out my phone and show her a photo. "But he's not your only victim."
The photo shows a hospital nurse. Black veins spreading up her arms. Terror in her eyes.
"Sarah Chen. She treated your brother. Now she's transforming too." I scroll to more photos. "David Rodriguez, security guard. Michelle Park, physical therapist. All showing early symptoms."
Cressida stares at the photos, her face getting paler. "How many?"
"In the hospital? Thirty-four so far." I scroll faster. "Your office building? Forty-two. Your apartment complex? Eighteen. The subway you take to work? Unknown. Could be hundreds."
"Stop." She covers her face with her hands. "Please stop."
But I can't stop. She needs to see. "And then there's Isolde. Sweet nineteen-year-old Isolde who thinks you're a hero. She'll transform in three weeks. Maybe two. And when she does, she'll slaughter everyone in her path. Her neighbors. Her friends. Innocent people who never did anything wrong."
"I said stop!" Cressida slams her hands on the table. The wood cracks under her palms. Other customers turn to stare.
I keep my voice calm. "Can you kill her? When the time comes? Can you put a blade through Isolde's heart to save others?"
She stares at her hands. At the black veins pulsing beneath her skin. "I don't know."
"That's the problem with contractors. You make deals for noble reasons—save a brother, protect the innocent, fix a broken world. But the devil twists it. Makes you the monster you wanted to stop." I finish my coffee. "I know because I almost became one myself."
Her head snaps up. "What?"
"I was twelve when a Hollow One killed my family. Stage Four transformation—completely mindless, feeding on suffering. It tore through my parents and little sister while I hid in a closet." The memories burn. "When it finally found me, I begged for power to survive. Anything to not die like they did."
"Lumiel," she whispers. "The celestial entity."
"Appeared in a flash of light. Offered me life in exchange for service. I'd become its vessel, its weapon. Hunt devil-contractors before they reach Stage Four." I meet her eyes. "I made the same choice you did, Cressida. Desperate deal with something I didn't fully understand."
"But you're hunting me. Trying to kill me."
"Because I've seen what happens when I don't." I pull out another photo. A burned city block. Bodies everywhere. "This was Chicago, three years ago. I hesitated. Thought I could save the contractor because she reminded me of my sister. By the time I finally acted, she'd transformed completely. Killed three hundred people in two hours."
Cressida's face goes white. "Three hundred?"
"And that was one contractor. You're creating dozens. Maybe hundreds if we count secondary infection." I lean back. "So yes, I'm trying to kill you. It's what I do. What I'm bound to do."
"Then why are we having coffee? Why not just attack me?"
That's the question, isn't it? Lumiel asks the same thing, rage burning in my chest.
"Because you spared Marcus Felding," I say finally. "You beat him, carved words into his skin, but you called the police. You could've killed him. You wanted to kill him. But you didn't."
"He didn't deserve death. Just punishment."
"Exactly. You're still fighting to stay human. Still drawing lines." I study her face—the way she struggles not to let her teeth show too sharp. "Most contractors lose that fight within days. You've lasted over a week and you're still choosing mercy."
"I'm not merciful. I enjoy hurting them." Her voice drops to a whisper. "When I carved into Marcus's skin, it felt good. Better than anything. I wanted to keep going. Make it last longer."
"But you didn't."
"Because I'm terrified of what I'm becoming!" She looks at me with desperate eyes. "Every day it gets harder. Every day I want the pain more. Last night I had to stop myself from killing Richard Voss. And the worst part? A piece of me wishes I hadn't stopped."
There it is. The raw truth. She's not a monster yet, but she's close. So close.
"Help me," she begs. "You know about this stuff. You've hunted contractors for years. There has to be a way to break the contract. To stop the transformation."
I should lie. Tell her there's no hope. Make this easier.
But I can't.
"There might be one way," I hear myself say. "Contract breaking through sacrifice. You give up what you value most. But—"
"I'll do it. Whatever it takes."
"You don't even know what it costs yet."
"I don't care!" She grabs my hand across the table. Where our skin touches, I feel it—her corruption trying to infect me. Lumiel burns it away, but barely. "I'll sacrifice anything to save Isolde. To save Landry. To stop this."
I look at our joined hands. At this broken woman trying so hard to stay good while darkness swallows her alive.
Lumiel roars in my head. "She's manipulating you! Kill her now!"
But I don't think she is. I think she means every word.
"The sacrifice has to be genuine," I tell her. "The thing you value most. The reason you made the contract in the first place." I meet her eyes. "For you, that's probably—"
My phone explodes with notifications. Emergency alerts.
I check the messages. My blood turns to ice.
"What's wrong?" Cressida asks.
I show her the screen. News reports. Police scanners. Emergency broadcasts.
Memorial Hospital is under attack. Multiple Hollow Ones fully manifested. Mass casualties. The building is being evacuated.
"Your brother just reached Stage Four," I say quietly. "He's killing everyone."
Cressida stares at the screen. At footage of something that used to be Landry tearing through hospital staff like paper.
"No," she whispers. "No, no, no—"
"We need to go. Now." I stand up. "He won't stop until we stop him."
"Stop him how?"
I pull out my celestial blade. It glows cold and bright in my hand.
"The only way to stop a Stage Four Hollow One." I look at her. "I'm going to kill your brother. And you're going to help me do it."
Her face crumbles. "I can't. He's all I have left."
"He's already gone, Cressida. That thing isn't Landry anymore." I head for the door. "Are you coming or not?"
She sits frozen in the booth, tears streaming down her face.
Then her phone buzzes. A text from Isolde: OMG are you seeing this?! The hospital! We need to help!
Cressida's hands clench into fists. Black veins pulse up her arms.
When she looks up, her eyes are solid black.
"Let's go kill my brother."