The ride back was quiet.
Rain slid along the windows in thin lines, the road ahead dark and narrow between the trees. The engine's hum filled the space where words did not.
Raizel sat with his gaze forward, posture composed, hands resting loosely in his lap. To anyone watching, he appeared as he always had- still, distant and untroubled.
Frankenstein knew better.
There was a tension about him.
Thought.
Frankenstein had learned long ago that when his master fell silent in this way, something had caught his interest. And when something caught Raizel's interest, it rarely remained untouched.
After several minutes, Raizel spoke.
"Frankenstein."
"Yes, Master?"
"Tell me about Antigen."
Frankenstein's eyes flicked briefly to the mirror, then back to the road. "The pharmaceutical corporation?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"It is not entirely human-run," Frankenstein said carefully.
Raizel turned his head slightly.
Guess turn out right. Multiverse
"They are lycans," Frankenstein replied. "A powerful clan. Antigen serves as both a front and a means of influence within human society."
Raizel considered this in silence.
"Werewolves," he said at last.
"In simpler terms," Frankenstein agreed.
Raizel's fingers tapped once against the seat. "They operate openly?"
"As humans, yes. Their true nature is concealed."
"And no one interferes."
Frankenstein hesitated. "Few are capable of doing so."
Raizel's gaze drifted back to the rain-dark road.
"I want to understand them."
Frankenstein inclined his head slightly. "I will gather information."
That was all.
But Frankenstein felt it, the beginning of something.
-------------
Elsewhere, the Cullen car had pulled to the side of the road.
Alice sat stiff in her seat, eyes unfocused, breath shallow.
The laughter from moments before had vanished.
Jasper had already reached for her hand.
"Alice?" he said quietly.
She didn't answer.
Rosalie turned. "What did you see?"
Alice's lips parted, then closed again, as if the words resisted being spoken.
When she finally spoke, her voice was low.
"A man."
"Human?" Emmett asked.
"I don't know."
That alone made situation worse.
"He was tall," Alice whispered. "Dark clothes. Red eyes."
Jasper stiffened.
"And?" Rosalie pressed.
"He was standing where he shouldn't be," Alice said. "Like the world moved around him instead of the other way around."
Silence filled the car.
"There was something else, I.....I...." Alice added.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Jasper finally said, "Could you see what he wanted?"
Alice shook her head slowly.
"That's the problem," she said. "I couldn't see past him."
-----------------
Back at the mansion, Raizel wandered the halls in silence.
The house was large. Too large.
He passed tall windows streaked with rain, shelves of books he had already read.
Vampires who did not drink human blood.
Lycans who ran corporations.
And humans who walked among it all unaware.
He was no longer in a single story.
It was a convergence.
Raizel paused near the front window, looking out at the dark trees swaying under the rain.
Curiosity stirred in him.
Interest.
This world held systems. Powers. Hidden structures.
And he intended to understand them.
Footsteps approached behind him.
Frankenstein had returned.
Raizel did not turn.
"Where do the Cullens reside?" he asked calmly.
Frankenstein blinked once.
"…May I ask why, Master?"
"I encountered one of them today," Raizel said. "The boy."
Frankenstein's expression sharpened.
A pause.
Raizel's reflection in the window remained composed but his heart doesn't.