Brax pulled up to the coffee shop accused of serving blood. The most pressing question they were disturbed by was how they retrieved the blood. Hardened expressions consumed their faces over what shady dealings they would find there.

Before Lucian and Brax stepped one foot out of the vehicle, Lucian began laying out the plan. "Brax, when we go in there, you need to be at the top of your game; the last thing we want is a slip-up happening. I have no idea what to expect once we're inside or who we're dealing with, so we can't be reckless about this so we don't get ourselves killed," Lucian brought to his attention.  

"Seriously, you are worrying yourself over nothing; everything will be fine. It'll be a piece of cake; what you don't think I can manage?" Brax sarcastically snapped in an irritated voice, his temper bubbling underneath the surface of his skin while his arms were tightly crossed over his chest.

"You're already setting us up for failure with an attitude like that, you know, and we haven't even started yet," Brax was quick to point out. He placed his hand on the handle of his car door, getting ready to push it open. Before he could have the opportunity to do so, Lucian gripped his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"I'm dead serious. We need to appear as inconspicuous as possible at the start. I need you to strike up a casual conversation with the barista to keep them busy while I snoop around a bit to see if I can find anything suspicious. I'm going to need you to distract whoever is behind the register," Lucian stated with a serious expression on his face.

"If they have even the slightest suspicion that we're onto whatever shady dealings they're doing, their first instinct will be to cover up their tracks," Lucian explained, raising a valuable point. "The last thing I need is for you to storm in there and rough up the first person you see because you tend to be a bit much at times."

Brax brushed Lucian's hand off his shoulder, growing more irritated by the second. "Whatever, what am I ten? More like you need to worry about your own stupid ass screwing things up! I told you already that I have everything handled, but obviously, you don't believe a damn thing I say," Brax asserted as he threw the hood of his cloak over his head to keep his face concealed as much as possible before opening his car door.

The scent of coffee beans, vanilla, caramel, and sugar greeted them once Brax and Lucian entered. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary; it appeared to be just an average coffee shop.  

There were rows of chairs for customers to cozy up in to enjoy their drinks and mingle. As expected, there were no other customers besides themselves since it was late, and the establishment kept its doors open at all hours of the day.

Rossen was the type of city that never really slept. The fun never seemed to end, especially for those up to no good.

"Oh, hello, welcome in. Hang on, I'll be right with you. Give me just a second," the barista cheerfully called out to them with his back turned while cleaning some dishes. He appeared to be an ordinary human from his appearance since he had no fangs.

Lucian gave a subtle side glance while Brax responded with a head nod to give the signal that their plan was being set into motion. Brax made his way over to the counter, appearing to be following the instructions Lucian had given to him.

While Brax waited for the barista, Lucian began to walk slowly around, scoping the entire area for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

Once the barista was finished cleaning up, he hurried over to the counter. "Sorry for the delay. I really wasn't expecting to receive customers at this hour," the barista admitted with a friendly smile.

The creepy thing was Lucian could have sworn that when he glanced over at the barista for a second, his jade eyes were following his every movement. Even though the barista was chatting with Brax, he seemed to be watching what Lucian was doing from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, you're not wrong about that; it is pretty late," Brax admitted before placing his hands casually in his pockets. He tried his hardest to keep his temper under control and act as if nothing was wrong while making small talk.

"I don't think I've ever seen you two before. Is this your first time here?" the barista questioned with a friendly smile.

"No, we haven't been here before. We heard from all the good reviews that this place makes killer drinks, so we wanted to check it out for ourselves to see if you own up to your reputation," Brax lied.

"Glad to have you. You will not be disappointed. You both made the right choice by stopping by. So what can I get you two?" the barista asked before scratching his arm, appearing nervous about something.

"We'll have your special?" Barx asked, trying not to make things obvious since he was waiting for him to make a mistake and reveal what he and Lucian were trying to bust the place for.

"Oh, that would be our espresso. So is that what you'll both be having tonight?" the barista asked while nervously tapping his fingers along the counter and tugging at the black choker around his neck to adjust it.  

The barista shadily combed his fingers through his ebony strands of hair. His attention shifted to Lucian, seeming oddly interested in what he was doing. He was acting as though he was about to be caught for doing something illegal, and Brax and Lucian were determined to expose him for it.

"Sure, coming right up. So, what brings you both in? Got any plans for the rest of the night," the barista asked with a growing nervousness in his tone while making their drinks.

Lucian continued his search, not leaving a single piece of tile unturned, but still found nothing. Lucian let out a frustrated sigh while he thought, It looks like we might be leaving here empty-handed; we can't hold them accountable for anything if there's no evidence of it."

"We're just passing through and thought it would be a good idea to grab a couple of drinks for the road, that's all," Brax casually replied.

When Brax realized that things were going nowhere, he thought it would be best to kick things up a notch.

"I tried your way, but now we're going to try mine. "Let me show you how it's done," Lucian overheard Brax mumble under his breath with his keen sense of hearing.

Before Lucian could do anything about it, as soon as the barista had finished and brought over their drinks, he said, "Here are your..."

But before the barista could finish his sentence, his eyes widened in shock when Brax slammed his hands against the counter. The barista got startled, causing him to drop the drinks in his hands and spill them all over the counter and the floor.

"Listen, Kent, if that's even your real name," Brax narrowed his eyes suspiciously while addressing him by the name tag on his shirt. "A little birdie told me you got the stuff, so hook us up if you know what I'm saying."

Brax proceeded to pull out a wad of cash from his pocket and push it across the counter to try and bribe him. "Here's some cash, and there's plenty more where that came from," Brax attempted to entice the barista.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," the barista answered, playing innocent while not sounding very convincing as he averted Brax's gaze.

"You see, my friend over there is on his last breath," Brax explained before pointing his hand behind him at Lucian.

"You mean that guy over there?" Kent asked while squinting his eyes and pointing at Lucian. "Your friend seems pretty okay if you ask me. Are you sure something's wrong with him?" Kent stated with an ominousness to his tone.

"Quit playing dumb! As you can see, we're both vampires who need our fill of blood. He's had a rough night," Brax snapped with his guard up while his eyes narrowed since he sensed something was off about the barista.

Lucian stared up at the ceiling before smacking his forehead and dragging his hand down, pulling the skin of his face along with it.

He did exactly the opposite of what I told him to do. I should've just done this entire operation solo; it would've been much better that way. Lucian thought. He instantly regretted asking Brax to assist him with the mission in the first place since he was causing more trouble than he had bargained for.

"Oh, if that's the case and you know about that, then you must know the secret password," Kent asked in a dark tone while narrowing his eyes as his hand slowly began to reach under the counter.

"Hey! Stop right there!" Brax yelled out before summoning a divine sword in his hand while directing it toward Kent. Kent immediately stopped what he was doing and threw his hands in the air.

"I knew I had a bad feeling about this place! He was trying to reach for something under the counter! I think he was trying to alert everyone that we're here!" Brax screamed out.