The planning room was buried three levels beneath the main lab, a soundproofed vault filled with holographic maps of the demon territories and tactical readouts that flickered with a ghostly blue light. Hannah stood over a glass table, her reflection looking back at her—sharp, cold, and calculated.
"The 'victim' angle?" Robert's voice was high-pitched, echoing off the reinforced walls. He was pacing a frantic circle around the room, his hands tugging at his hair.
"Doctor, this isn't a research paper. You're talking about Hebner Grand. He doesn't look at a 'sickly, homeless human' and feel pity. He looks at them and sees a nuisance that needs to be scrubbed from his floor."
"Exactly," Hannah said, her eyes fixed on the architectural layout of the Demon Lord's Palace. "He expects power. He expects the sirens and the succubi who come to him with their chests out and their magic flaring. He's bored of it, Robert. But a human girl with no parents, no home, and a cough that sounds like she's halfway to the grave? She's invisible. She's pathetic. She's exactly the kind of thing he'll let into his palace just so he can watch her struggle before he eventually discards her."
"Or kills her!" Robert slammed his hands on the table, the holographic map rippling like water. "He has no heart, Hannah. None. He spent his human life being trampled, and now he spends his immortal life doing the trampling. If you make one wrong move—one look that's too intelligent, one word that sounds too much like a scientist—he will snap your neck. He senses danger from a mile away. You'll be doomed before you even say a word. He smells the 'human' on you like a rot."
Hannah finally looked up, her gaze chillingly calm. "Then I will make sure the 'human' he smells is a dying one. I've already synthesized a temporary viral suppressant that will make my skin pale and my pulse weak. I'll be the girl who has nowhere else to go. I will bother him, Robert. I will be the thorn in his side until he's so irritated by my presence that he makes me a servant just to keep me under his thumb. Once I'm inside, once I'm behind those walls... the game changes."
"You're talking about seducing a man who thinks we are vermin," Robert whispered, his face pale. "To get his sperms, you have to get him to see you as more than an insect. And if you fail? If he realizes you're there for Project Y?"
"Then I die trying," Hannah said simply. She grabbed a small, battered leather bag—and headed for the door. "But if I don't go, the world dies anyway. Prepare the transport."
The journey to the City of Demons, known to the fearful as Voidmore City, was a descent into a nightmare. They boarded a private, unmarked jet, flying over the scorched "No Man's Land" that separated the human alliances from the demon empire. As the plane dipped below the heavy, violet clouds of the demon territory, the landscape changed. Jagged mountains of black glass rose from the earth, and the air outside the cabin hummed with a dark, static energy that made the plane's electronics flicker.
Voidmore was a sprawling metropolis of gothic spires and neon-dark alleys, all centered around the massive, terrifying silhouette of the Demon Lord's Palace. It was a city built on the ruins of the old world, a place where the sun never truly shone.
As the jet touched down at the outskirts and they transitioned to a battered ground vehicle, Robert's hands were shaking so hard he could barely grip the steering wheel. "The scanners are going to pick us up, Hannah. We're deep in the Void now."
"Stay focused," Hannah commanded, her voice already taking on a weak, raspy quality as she triggered the first dose of her sickly serum.
They approached the Great Gate of Voidmore—a massive archway of bone-white stone guarded by demons in heavy, dark plate armor. The air here smelled of ozone and ancient blood. Hundreds of lower-tier demons were gathered, draped in dark silks and ceremonial furs, their eyes glowing with predatory excitement.
The vehicle was hissed to a halt by a guard twice the size of a man, his skin a deep, bruised purple and his horns curved like scimitars. He slammed a heavy fist against the hood.
"Halt, filth!" the guard bellowed, his voice vibrating in Hannah's chest.
Robert rolled down the window, his voice trembling. "We... we have business. We need passage to the inner city."
The guard leaned in, sniffing the air with a sneer. "Humans? On the Day of the Eclipse?" He laughed, a sound like grinding rocks. "Today is the Sovereign's Celebration. The Day of the Great Ascendance. We allow no interference from the weak-blooded. No humans enter Voidmore City today. Not for anything. Don't bother yourselves explaining anything. Leave!"
"Please," Hannah gasped from the passenger seat, leaning forward to show her pale, sweating face, her eyes wide and watery. "I... I have nowhere else. I need..."
The guard shoved a spear tip toward the window, his eyes narrowing. "I don't care if you're dying or dead, girl. The gates are sealed to your kind. Turn back, or your heads will be the first decorations for the festival. I haven't tasted human blood for a while, and you look tasty."
Robert looked at the wall of armored demons and then back at Hannah, his eyes full of terror. They were at the very edge of the abyss, and the doors were slammed shut in their faces.