The on-the-second footfalls of Prada heels confidently walking up the Temple Court's flight of stairs.

She was coming. And it killed Silas' mood.

The Collector's hand fell from Sky to his side as his attention was taken from the ghost girl's welcome. He turned to face the door to the open stairwell, waiting for her to arrive.

Without a pause, the steps drew closer as they were counted down like seconds ticking. When the landing was reached, out of the stairwell doorway, bordered by broken wood and peeling wallpaper, stepped a woman. A woman of sensuality, style and the Devil. A femme fatale in a dress suit.

Ms. Yona.

Lucifer's secretary. One of hundreds but the best by far according to her. She was also Silas' handler. Perfect black hair pulled back from her pale face. She had a clear set of sharp stylized black horns curved back over the length of her head through her hair. Horns were of the lineage of the Fallen race called Dæmons. The pure bloods of Hell. Red lips, onyx lashes and piercing eyes of scarlet fire able to catch every passing glance. And while everyone in the Devil's employment was required to wear suits to work, Ms. Yona happily took its potential to its extremes with a different designer suit each day. Under her arm was tucked several folders, one clearly thicker than the others. It caught Silas' attention as they only ever received one folder at a time, rarely two. Yona was holding five, along with two coffees on a tray in her opposite hand.

"Hi guys, good work today, as always. Quick, clean and without the mess. Just the way it was meant to be." She smiled on approach to the pair. "Thank you. Seriously. Your job well done makes my job easier. Would you like a coffee?"

How Silas hated her. Even without a soul of his own to feel, he knew he hated her. Yona knew damn well he neither ate nor drank. And neither could Sky, at least not in the physical sense. The Collector didn't move from his spot next to Sky when Ms. Yona drew near. Only his eyes narrowed.

"Oh lighten up, Silas." Yona smiled, a slight shake of her head while rolling her eyes. Taking the cup from the cup holder, she lifted it to wave it in his face. "There's nothing in your cup. I just thought you'd appreciate the gesture."

Coffee or not, Silas still thought she was a bitch.

The secretary grinned at his dead silence before looking to Sky, a more gentle expression crossing her face. She plucked the second coffee cup from the holder and offered it to the ghost girl with a wink. 

"This one's for you."

For reasons unknown to Silas, Ms. Yona dotted on Sky often. After all, the ghost girl was unique in the world of Others. A ghost was a rare creature. Sometimes seen in passing, no one had ever in fact caught one before. Having a ghost in one's personal possession was indeed an unusual thing.

"Thank you," replied Sky, giving a smile as she accepted. Trapped in chains, Sky was still polite and soft spoken. She was certainly Silas' better side. Having the ability to interact with physical objects, she took the cup into her hands. Although not coffee, it was something else far more important.

Tearing the lid off the cup to reveal the contents within, Sky's eyes were round. A small sphere of glowing light was hovering inside the plain paper coffee cup. Her expression brightening, Sky happily reached in, grasping the orb. Trapped within her closed palm, she raised it to her face, and peeked through the cracks in her fingers at the light shining through the transparency. With a grin, Sky pushed it into her mouth, devouring it in a single swallow.

It brought peace. A relief to the hunger. Even for a short time.

"What was it?" Silas' tone was flat, looking from the Devil's secretary to Sky.

"A familiar." Ms. Yona answered only after Sky had eaten it. "I thought she could use a snack, considering you never feed her properly."

Yona had little right in Silas' mind to criticize his keeping of Sky and he would have torn her down was it not for the ghost girl suddenly appearing between them. Blocking Silas' darkness and effectively quelling the sudden flame. Sky only need look at him for Silas to cease all action. Looking to Yona, her strong gaze reinforced her meek voice,

"Please Ms. Yona, Silas is nothing but good to me. The one to blame is me. It's safer to stay in the Temple Court when we aren't collecting."  

Yona's shoulder's fell. Sky was just as protective of Silas as he was of her. Silas, on the other hand, could never understand why Sky remained well-mannered to the one whom he considered a snake of a woman. Yona, gentle to the ghost woman, reached out and touched her chin, lifting her face to get a better look at the embarrassment she was trying to hide. 

"Are you starving yourself again?" Yona's voice was scolding. 

"My Sky is not your concern." Silas growled over the top of the ghost woman's head.

"No. You both are my concern," Ms. Yona was quick to reply, shooting a sharpened look at Silas. To Sky, she continued, "Your abstinence from a life source will only cause problems. You know this."

"I-I'm ok," Sky always downplayed the gnawing she felt within.

"It will break through. Just like before."

"It is under control," Silas said, not giving Sky a chance to answer in her own words. Neither of them was about to tell Yona of any close call. Any mishap had its repercussion although it was never Sky that was disciplined in the event anything went wrong. Silas alone, bore sole responsibility. Knowing there was no point to push the matter further without a verbal free for all with Silas; Yona could only shake her head in discontent.

Most of the time she could push the urge into the back of her mind. But the feeling was always there. Every time she spoke of it, Yona knew she was lying. The secretary eyed the ghost girl from top to bottom with skepticism. For years, she had continually pointed out this obvious problem. The spirits of small animal familiar; mice, cats and dog. Sky would consume their lives in order to stop herself from craving more. But she continued to crave more. It was always only a short matter of time before she would be hungry again. And so, Sky chose to hide herself away from everything. If there was no life, she could not be tempted. Sky couldn't die and so she abstained from consuming anything rather than to follow the voice within. The voice that was getting stronger.

"Fine. It's under control." Yona muttered on a breath, knowing it was a lie. "Just don't let it ever get out of control. The paperwork is a nightmare."

With the mention of paperwork, Yona's mind was back on the purpose at hand. No matter how much Silas disliked her, she was sure he would be interested in what she had to say then.

"So, anyway, I have something to tell you," her voice chimed with the tone of child's play. Mischievousness paired with a grin. Lifting the folders from beneath her arms, she extended them to Silas and Sky. Five folders in total.

"Why are there five?" Sky asked, curious.

"Because they are very special." answered Yona.

Without saying a word, Silas took them from her while Sky hovered beside his shoulder to get a closer look. The process of soul collecting was under contract with the Devil and every case was reviewed prior to it being undertaken by one of the Devils' hundreds of secretaries. The information and history of every due collection was edited and compiled into a single file before being handed to a Collector.

In the first four folders, each contained a single sheet of paper, with only an identification number printed at the top of each page. 

"What is this?" The paper-thin patience was clear in the Soul Collector's words, even through his deadpan expression. Convinced there was some mistake on the part of the Devil's secretary, he tried to push aside the fact that in the thirty four years of working together, Yona had never once made a mistake. Not even in her spelling or grammar. 

"The pages are blank." Sky exclaimed, showing the expression of shock that Silas couldn't.

"Is this a joke?" Silas' eyes were narrowed.

"Not at all." Yona replied.

"Then why?" Sky had never seen any folder with so little information.

"Their information was stolen." Yona continued.

"Stolen?" The Collector questioned.

"Yes, stolen."

"From the Archives?" asked Sky.  

"Yes,"

"How? By who? Is that even possible?" Sky's eyes were wide with curiosity as she asked question after question. Without a word, Yona directed the attention of both Collectors to the fifth and final folder.

Silas opened it, greeted by a dozen pages of fine printed information and titled with a name that would become ingrained in his mind.

"Johannes Faust." The name was a cold breath, passing his lips like ice.

"The collection you've been waiting for." said Yona. "Your final collection."

The white irises of Silas' black eyes shrank to pinpoints. There was a pause, a moment of hesitation in Silas before he looked at Yona and the expression on her face. He almost didn't believe what he was hearing.

"Lucifer personally instructed me to tell you that this job will be your last. When you've collected the four and Faust, your contract will be complete and you will be free."

Their freedom was not a subject to speak of lightly. For thirty-four years, Silas had collected without question. Trudging through Hell. Waiting for his turn.

"But why five?" asked Sky.

"The four nameless escaped with him."

"Nameless? How could their information be stolen?" questioned the Collector.

"I don't know." Yona shook her head. "When I went to the Archives to get information on them, Faust's file was the only one there. The other four files were just... gone." 

"Gone?"

"Yes, gone."

"What did Lucius say?" asked the ghost girl.

That name.

Silas' eye twitched.

"Lucius," muttered the Soul Collector. There was distaste in his mouth and Sky knew exactly why. Looking from Silas, she turned to Yona.  Lucius, the Dæmon bookkeeper of the Archives.

"Nothing. I didn't have time to wait for him. You know how Lucius gets if his files are out of order. But he will certainly find something that will be of use to you. You need to go back and talk to him." Yona replied, keeping her smile.

"You want this one and my Sky to go to the Archives?" Silas wasn't keen on that idea.

"Yes. Detective work isn't my job. It's yours. I only pass along the information from the files to you. If there are holes, it's your job to fill them."

Discarding the coffee holder with Silas' empty cup to the floor, Ms. Yona reached into her pocket for her phone. The best of the best, it was decorated with glittering diamonds across its case and several glittering key charms dangling off its side, all with a perfect manicure to match. In her opposite hand, a small square device appeared in her palm before it was promptly plugged into the phone's dock. With a grin, she pointed the phone's camera at Silas.

"Smile!" She said, snapping his shadowed stone faced expression that never changed. Followed was Sky, whose photo resembled a wide eyed deer, trapped in the luminescent glow of a car's headlights. From the device, a card creator, two ID cards of black metal was printed, spitting out into Yona's waiting hand. A handy little tool, it gave Yona the authority to allow Collectors one-time access cards to Hell's Archives. With the two cards in hand, she gave them to Silas. "Take these. They will give you both clearances to the Archives. Ask Lucius. You will get the answers you are looking for."

 "I don't think Lucius likes helping us." Sky said, her furrowed eyebrows casting a shadow of doubt across the open access to the Archives they had been granted. "Anytime when we go there it feels like we are intruding. He is so suspicious of us."

The fact that Silas had never much been the type for detective work and that neither he nor Lucius were cordial with one another was the light translation of Sky's words.

"Trust me, this time, he will gladly help you. He's like a dog, completely loyal to his Master. If Lucifer commands that concerning this case be disclosed to you, Lucius will abide. I want to see you both succeed. I would never send you on a wild goose chase. Contract completions get a bonus and a chance to keep climbing the corporate ladder. Just go to the Archives. Lucius has been the Archives' bookkeeper for over six centuries. He will know something." 

When the briefing was complete and their instructions given, Ms. Yona was gone. She never stuck around, but was sure to be back after each of the five collections were complete.