The air was thick and dry as Scout made her way down the street. Her boots thudding against the cement side walks of New York City. The occasional breeze disrupted the air, blowing her thick hair behind her shoulders. She had been walking through the city for 10 minutes now, always looking over her shoulder to make sure she was still being followed. 

The three men behind her, with their hands in their pockets, had been following her since she walked past the bar. She could hear them talking amongst themselves about how sweet she would taste. Tossing the hood of her jacket over her head, she shoved her hands into her pockets and quickly crossed the street. She looked back to see the men mimicking her actions. Picking up her pace, she ran into the first dark alley she found. The alley was tall; dividing a record store and a coffee shop. One side held a fire escape that lead to different apartments above the business, the other side stood two dumpsters. 

The men began to chuckle as they entered the alley. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” one of them called. 

They crept their way deeper into the darkness. Sniffing the air, the tallest one said “We don’t bite.”  

“You sure about that?” Scout said from the shadows. Perched on the edge of the fire escape, she played with the knife in her hands, running her fingers along the sharp edge. 

“We’ve got ourselves a little foreigner boys,” said the tall man, noticing the accent in Scout’s words. Scout looked at him, she could see his hair was long, pulled back into a small ponytail. He had a little muscle in his arms, nothing she couldn’t handle. The short one was thin, he had piercings on his face and ears. His mohawk was evidently green even in minimal lighting. The third guy was in-between the two. He was chubby, medium built, with finger nails that looked like claws. Scout eyed them from her spot on the fire escape, seeing who she could take down first. The tall man began to laugh again, “I wonder if she tastes different”

“Where ya from, poppet?” the chubby one asked, putting on a fake accent. “Are you from Scottland?!” He yelled. Scout quickly and quietly jumped from the fire escape, sticking to the shadows she made her way around the men. 

With their backs towards her, Scout smirked. “London, actually” the men turned around and with one swift movement, Scouts blade began to glow as she swung her arm, cutting the head off the chubby one. She watched as his head rolled towards the wall and his body dropped to the floor, shaking violently before caving in on itself and disappearing. 

The tall man watched as the body vanished before throwing his head up. His upper lip began to curl back, exposing three sets of teeth. “Hunter,” he hissed. 

Scout smiled, throwing her arms up and shrugging. “You caught me,” she says. With a growl, the tall man lunged forward, reaching for Scout’s throat. She quickly stepped out of the way, spinning on her heels, before kicking him into the ally wall. She held her blade up to his neck, his fiery glow leaving marks along his skin. The short one took off running, seeing his chance of survival as slim, and vanished around the corner. 

With a yelp, the man was thrown back into the alley, tossed onto the ground like a doll. Behind him, two more body’s came into view. “Now where do you think you’re going?” Scout heard a familiar voice.

“Look who came to party,” Scout said, with a smile. 

“Scarlett” the boy said. Scout shivered at the sound of her real name, he only ever called her Scarlett to upset her and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t work.

“Nathaniel,” she responds, calling him by his birth name and not the usual Nat he was use to. 

“I thought I told you to wait,” he lectures. “I specifically told you not to do anything until we got here, and I told you not to kill anyone!” he says, pointing at the blue blood that covered the ground. 

Scout rolled her eyes, her blade still pressed against the mans neck. “and I specifically chose not to listen,” she says. “And as for the dead guy, he thought I was Scottish! Do I sound Scottish to you?!”

The tall man held up a finger to intervene. “If I may-“

“Shut up!” Both Nat and Scout shouted. 

“We’ll talk about this later, Nat, but right now, I have a blade pressed against a demons neck and if you think I won’t kill him because of this hair, you’re wrong.” Scout says.

Nat got closer to the man, watching as blue liquid fell from the open wound on his neck. “Damien,” Nat calls to the younger boy. “Keep an eye on the fat one,” he directs. 

Damien flashes a cocky grin before pulling his blade out and pressing its fiery blue steel against the mans neck. “Nice mohawk.” he says sarcastically.

 Nat puts his attention back on the man Scout had pinned. “What’s your name?” he asks.

The man swallows, causing the blade to cut a little deeper. “Mark,” he says.

Nat shakes his head, “What is your real name?”

The man looks from Scout to Nat, unsure of whether or not he should answer, but seeing as his life was at risk he responds with an hushed “Azreul” he says, his eyes flashing yellow as the name slips from his lips. 

“Azreul,” Nat repeats. “You’re a long way from home, demon. Who sent you?”

Azreul shakes his head, “nobody, no one sent us.” he reassures.

Nat looks at Scout, nodding his head once. Scout looks back at the demon, pushing her blade deeper into his skin, causing a hiss to escape Azreul’s mouth. “Lets try that again,” Scout says. “Who sent you,” she demands.

“Francesco” he shouts, more blue blood slipping past the blade, staining the from of his shirt.

Nat takes a step back as he and Scout look at each other. “What does Franco want in New York?”

“It’s not what it’s who,” Azreul says. 

Nat quickly draws his blade, putting it against the demons neck. “Who is Franco after?” he says. 

The demons only begin to laugh. they both look at each other before they begin to sing, “hey, hey, hey” they start to laugh again in unison. The tune was familiar, but Scout couldn’t put her finger on where she had heard it from.

“By the time you find out it’ll be too late,” the short one says.

Scout rolls her eyes and turns to face Damien. “Can you please kill him,” she says.

Damien smiles, looking at the demon. “It would be my pleasure,” he says before driving his blade into the demons throat.

Scout turns her attention back to Azreul. “I think we should take him to see Charlie,” she says.

Nat smiles, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. “You know Scarlett, I think that’s a splendid idea. If anyones gonna get information out of him, it’ll be charlie.”

“Charlie is the master of torture. Did you see his new toy?” Damien asks, joining the group as he wipes his blade on his pants.

“As a matter of fact, I did. He’s gonna be so excited to finally have someone to test it on,” Scout smiles, tilting her head to the side. 

Nat pulls his blade away from the demons neck, watching is it folds in on itself before sliding it into his boot. “I say we bind him up and take him to the Institute.”

The Demon, who had grown anxious by this point, looked from one face to the other. “Wait!” he yells. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, I’ll tell you about Franco-“

“Stop saying Franco,” Scout yells,her eyes flashing a bright red.

The demons eyes widened at the sight of the girls eyes. “You’re the Mayfair child.” he says. “Oh this is perfect, wait until he finds out where you’ve been hiding.” he smirks.

“Nat,” scout says between clenched teeth, “I’m gonna kill him, I’m gonna do it-“

Nat puts a hand on Scouts arm, causing her to look in his direction, her eyes still bright red. “Don’t, we need this information. Now control your eyes.”

The demon chuckled, “Everything is going to work in Franco’s favor, even if you try to stop it.”

“Piss off,” Scout says before colliding her elbow into the demons skull causing the Demon fell to the ground.

“Was that necessary?” Nat asks as Scout drops to the ground, pulling wire from her pocket. 

She begins to quickly bind the demons hands. “Do you want to know what Franco is planning or not?” she asks, annoyed. “Damien, help me get him to the car.” 

Damien quickly grabbed the demon and and helped Scout toss him into the trunk before sliding into the passenger seat. Scout sat in the back, her head in her hands as she thought about the song the demons were singing. She closed her eyes and began to hum the song, trying so desperately to figure out the familiar tune. 

“Hey…hey….hey,” she started to sing, then it hit her. She shot up, sticking her head in-between Nat and Damien. “I’ve got it!” She yells.

“Got what?” Damien asks.

“Is Kat’s iPod still in here?” She ask. 

Damien nods, opening up the glove compartment and pulling out the slick black device before handing it to Scout. “What’s so important about Kat’s iPod?” 

“Shh,” she said, waving Damien away. She unlocked the iPod and opened up the music scrolling through it to find the song. “Listen to this,” she says as she being to play the song.

The boys look at each other. “Isn’t that the song the demons were singing?” Nat asks, point his thumb at the iPod.

Scout nods, “I think they were using it to taunt is, like we wouldn’t figure it out, but it’s a clue, almost. I don’t know why or how, but I think I know who Franco wants.”

“Who?” The boys ask.

Scout flips the iPod around, showing the picture to the two boys. “5 seconds of summer.”