"Well, that's just fantastic."

Jai's words dripped with sarcasm as I delivered the news.

Cain's reaction to the news was to remain completely stone-faced.

"Does this not creep you out?" I asked him.

He said nothing, just stared at me in thought.

How could someone still be practicing medicine thirty years postmortem?

"How do you know this?" Daniel asked me.

"I called around and found out all of the missing men had been seen by the same doctor then I called the hospital and the nurse informed me that he had been dead for thirty years."

Cain crossed his arms.

"Did the nurse happen to mention how he died?" He asked.

I shook my head.

I probably should have asked her, but I was too shocked by the news to think of anything in that moment.

"I need to see that certification of death and the M.E.'s report if there is one," Cain said to Priya.

She shook her head.

"He died thirty years ago," she argued. "Those records won't be online. I'm sure they're in a hospital somewhere, but I can't get you virtual access to them."

"We'll need to exhume the body then," Jai said, looking at Cain.

"Hell no," Daniel said. "I'd rather be pecked to death by a flock of hummingbirds than dig up a grave."

"We'll need to figure out if he's even dead before we do something like that," Cain said shaking his head.

"You think the nurse lied?" I asked him.

Cain looked at me with apprehension.

"I need to make sure she didn't," he said. "If someone is impersonating this man I need to know why and I need to know who is. Someone is making all of these men disappear and this is the only lead we have so far."

I nodded in agreement.

- - -

Narrative P.O.V.

Priya took Ella with her as they left to go investigate further.

Daniel and Jai looked at Cain expectantly.

"Go with them," he said. "They'll need all the help they can get."

Jai looked at Daniel and sighed before turning his attention back to Cain.

"Are we not going to talk about it?" He asked.

Cain crossed his arms.

"Talk about what?"

"About the fact that your girlfriend is getting closer and closer to finding out there is a possibility this man could have died thirty years ago and still be walking this earth," Daniel said.

"Never mind that," Jai said. "Can we talk about how she called around to get all this information and risked the discrepancy of this entire pack."

Cain drew in a deep breath.

"Or we could talk about how the entire hospital could be in on this and she just notified them that we were looking for a dead man," Daniel added.

Cain shook his head and unfolded his arms as he walked around the table he had been leaning against.

"She doesn't know any better," he said defensively.

"Which is exactly why you need to tell her," Jai said.

"You know I can't do that," Cain said through a clenched jaw.

The thought of telling her made him feel extremely uneasy.

She's just now getting to where she is comfortable around me, Cain thought. Telling her would ruin that.

"Listen, man," Daniel said, "I know you have reservations about telling her, we both do." He gestured to Jai who nodded in agreement. "But if she stays here, she's going to find out sooner or later. It would be best for the both of you if you're the one who told her."

Cain stared at the both of them with narrowed eyes.

"I'll tell her eventually," he said. "Until then, I'm standing by the original plan. Stick with the both of them and don't let them do anything else stupid. Find out if this man is really dead and we'll move from there."

Jai and Daniel both sighed. They knew this was a mistake.

But they had their orders and they had to obey them.

They turned and left the room to follow the girls back to Cain's office.

As they walked away, they pretended not to hear the sound of the concrete smashing as Cain punched the wall.

Cain withdrew his hand and observed it closely.

The skin was smooth and unbroken and it made him want to punch something harder.

He wished he bled. He wished he could feel pain.

Maybe if he could, he would know how to tell Ella what was going on.

- - -

Ella's P.O.V.

Daniel and Jai joined Priya and I as we put a plan in place as to how we were going to go about finding this man who was supposedly dead.

We sat around the large desk for a few hours deciding where to start and what we were going to look for.

The two of them were somewhat annoyed for the remainder of the day and Priya seemed uneasy. I, however, was enthralled.

Of course the idea of a man faking his own death or someone stealing a dead man's identity didn't settle well with me, but I knew we were getting closer and closer to the truth.

Maybe we would find my grandfather after all.

That night, we all ate a quick dinner in Cain's office as we continued to flip through files looking for other leads.

Cain was nowhere to be found which I surprised myself by being disappointed about.

It was late when I finally returned to my room that night. So late, in fact, that I was actually sleepy and nodded off in the bed, despite how enormous it was.

I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke up.

It was still nighttime, I knew this despite being turned to face the door. The huge bay windows let in plenty of the silvery glow of moonlight.

I had almost fallen back asleep when I heard it: a small click.

Despite how small the sound was, the deep silence that immersed the room paired with the high ceilings made the sound impossible to hide as it echoed across the bedroom.

I found myself straining to hear what had made it.

I wanted to hear footsteps echoing down the hallway. That meant that it was someone probably up using the bathroom or going to bed.

But I knew deep down that the sound had come from behind me.

I heard another click, this time it was louder, solidifying the terrible thought that someone else was in that bedroom.

I was frozen in fear.

I couldn't make myself turn to see what was behind me.

After hearing a few more of the same sounds, I gathered that it was coming from the outside of one of the windows and wasn't actually inside the room.

I finally began to turn slowly, just in time to hear a new sound: the sound of the window opening.

A breeze caught the window as it was pushed open and it flew against the window beside it and shattered.

The sound of the glass breaking sent me flying out from under the covers and off the bed.

I turned to see a large man jump from the windowsill onto the ground and I sprinted towards the bedroom door.

I felt something graze the side of my face and the next thing I knew, a knife was impaled in the wooden wall in front of me.

I let out a scream and dove behind the couch before dropping to my knees.

I crawled quickly behind the couch over to the fireplace as I heard the sound of wet boots stomping up behind me.

I was just able to grab the iron poker that hung beside the fireplace as someone grabbed the back of my t-shirt and yanked me towards them.

I used the momentum to swing the poker around and pound whoever the intruder was in the side of the face.

He stumbled backwards, but not out of pain. He was shocked.

I used the opportunity that I had gained in scaring him to continue to smack him with the poker.

Hitting him one final time, I darted over the top of the couch and sprinted back towards the bedroom door.

My heart was racing as my hand touched the doorknob.

Just when I thought I was in the clear, I felt two large hands shove me into the door.

I turned around, somewhat dazed, and swung the poker again, blindly this time.

It stopped midair as he caught it. Yanking it from my hands, he hit me in the side of the face with the iron handle.

I stumbled backwards onto the floor as the searing pain exploded across my cheekbone.

My head was spinning when I felt a hand wrap around my neck.

It lifted me off the ground and my toes were barely skimming the floor as I wrapped my hands around the assailant's wrist.

I swung my legs, trying to kick him.

I felt the air leaving my lungs and I kicked harder.

My already blurry vision began to grow dark from the outer corners and I was losing strength rapidly.

I barely heard the bedroom door open over the sound of the blood roaring in my ears before the intruder's hand let go and I crumpled to the ground, gasping and coughing.

I gently placed my hands around my tender throat as I looked up and saw the fight, or lack thereof, that ensued.

One punch from Cain sent the man sprawling across the room.

I knew Cain must have hit him hard, seeing as the man had barely been fazed by my attack with the poker.

The man flew across the bedroom floor and was completely still when he slid headfirst into the wall.

Cain walked over to me quickly and lifted me from my knees onto the bed where he took my face in his hands.

I could barely form a sentence.

I just watched as his eyes examined me for injuries, stopping as he looked at my face.

He drew a blood-soaked hand back from my cheek and looked at it in horror.

The bedroom door behind him swung open further and smacked the side of the wall. The lights were turned on and I saw Daniel come over to Cain and I as Jai ran over to the unconscious intruder.

"Go wash that off," Daniel told Cain, noticing the blood on his hand. "I'll take care of her."

My vision was blurry as I watched Cain back away hesitantly before Daniel insisted again, more fervently, that Cain go wash the blood from hands.

Although my vision was impaired, I saw how dark Cain's eyes were when he backed away. There was no trace of the soft, lavender eyes that had caught my attention when I met him.

Daniel turned to face me as Cain walked away.

He placed a hand on my shoulder to steady me as another hand lifted my chin so he could observe my busted cheek.

"You're okay," he assured me. Although, the look on his face said the cut was a nasty one.

Daniel pulled his shirt over his head before bunching it up and pressing it to the wound on my face.

"I'll get someone to get you some ice," he said. "You'll probably need stitches."

By this point the entire left side of my face was swollen.

I reached up to touch my left eye and Daniel swatted my hand away.

"It's still there," he assured me. "Don't touch it, though."

He turned and looked around, still pressing his shirt against my face.

"Did he get that from the fireplace?" He asked, gesturing towards the bloody poker that lay on the floor.

I shook my head slowly.

"I did," was all I could muster out.

Daniel turned and looked at me in shock.

"You fought him?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Atta girl," he said, breaking into a smile. "Remind me never to fuck with you."

I couldn't help but smile, a move that made a sharp pain spread across my face.

"Don't do that," he said, grimacing.

Jai walked over to us and observed me from over Daniel's shoulder.

"He's dead," he whispered to Daniel.

His voice was low, but I heard him clearly.

"Dead?" I nearly shouted. "Cain just hit him."

"And that," Daniel said, turning to me, "is why we don't fuck with Cain ether."

I flinched as Daniel pressed on my cheek and he sighed.

"Let's go take you to the medic," he said, helping me off the bed.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I got light-headed and felt my knees start to buckle under. Daniel steadied me by placing a hand on my back.

"I can't walk," I told him, trying to catch my breath.

"You probably have a concussion," Jai said.

With the headache I was beginning to feel, I didn't doubt him.

"I'll take her to the nurse," I heard Cain say. "You two stay here and deal with this."

I turned slightly to see Cain walking over to us. He seemed much more composed than he had been. His eyes were their normal shade of lavender... or maybe they had always been and I had just imagined it.

Cain took my arm and wrapped it around his neck as Daniel let go of me and placed my hand over his blood-soaked t-shirt to hold it in place.

"Are you sure?" I heard him mumble to Cain.

"I'm fine," Cain said sharply. "Now do what I told you to."

He bent down and picked me up from behind my knees, carrying me bridal style from the bedroom.

I couldn't speak properly, otherwise I would have asked him if blood made him squeamish, seeing as he'd panicked when he got mine on his hand.

He carried me down a few flights of stairs and I began to wonder how big his house actually was.

I also began to feel guilty for making him carry me so far. Although, I did note that he didn't so much as break a sweat.

He was still holding me as he walked down a long hallway that slowly introduced the smell of cleaning solution and hand sanitizer.

Cain pushed open a door with his foot and carried me inside a room that looked just like an examination room in a doctor's office.

He placed me on the table and held the back of my neck as he gently laid my head down on the paper liner.

I heard someone walk into the room quickly and Cain turned around to talk to whoever it was.

I felt my eyes begin to close and someone walked over and shone a light directly in my face.

"Don't go to sleep just yet," the man said. "We need to make sure everything is alright up in your noggin before we let that happen."

I managed to peel my heavy eyelids back open and I was blinded by the small light that he shone in my eyes.

"Try to follow the light with your eyes," he instructed as he moved the light from right to left.

"Do you feel like you're going to vomit?" He asked, putting the light away.

"No," I answered shortly.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" He asked.

"Yes."

He snapped his fingers beside my ear and I flinched as the sound echoed loudly in my head.

"She couldn't walk?" He asked Cain.

I assumed Cain shook his head, as I didn't hear him answer before the doctor turned back to me.

"Taking into account her sensitivity to light and noise, the dizziness, and balance issues, I think it's safe to say there is a strong likelihood of a concussion," he said. "For now, however, I want to take care of this cut."

He observed it for a moment before he turned back to Cain.

"I'll be right back," he said. "I need to get something to stitch that up."

I heard him leave the room and I turned to Cain who was staring at me with his arms crossed.

"How did you know that man was in my room?" I asked him softly.

"You screamed," he answered.

We were silent for a few moments before I felt a tear roll down my cheek and I looked up at the ceiling.

"You killed him," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

I turned to look back at Cain when he said nothing and I saw the back of him as he left the room.

I closed my eyes, feeling my hands shaking against the plastic cover on the table.

How can you kill a man with one punch?

- - -