"I'm telling you, something happened to her!" Lupita insisted, in an agitated and frustrated tone. "Are you even going to try and search for her?"

The Infected guard barely listened to her, completely engrossed in the bloody sight in front of them. On the floor of the coffee shop, amongst broken glass and thrown tables, lay the corpse of a man, pieces of his skull and brain mushed together and his features unrecognizable. Lupita couldn't dare look at the grotesque mix of blood, flesh and brain pieces, nausea hitting her like a truck every time she came too close to gracing its sight. However, the sight wasn't the worst part. What would cling to her for the rest of her days would be the smell of coppery blood and other bodily fluids pooling on the floor, so strong it had her eyes tearing up, so pungent she swore the scent was physically coating her airways.

Lupita didn't even need to look to know exactly whose corpse was lying on the floor.

It was the very same customer they had served just the day before. The one that had made both (Y/n) and herself uncomfortable beyond measure.

"That's some handiwork." The man marvelled, whistling like what he was admiring was a piece of art and not a murder scene. The sound made Lupita shudder beside him, an awful reminder of just how fucked up the Infected society could be.

She heaved a frustrated sigh, on the brink of losing it. This guard wouldn't help her, she knew it. He didn't care that her girlfriend had gone missing and that something terrible had probably happened to her, he didn't even care that someone had been murdered. Abductions, disappearances and murders were the norm in the Infected society, all that was expected from the authorities was to identify the victim, file in a report to describe the situation and clean the crime scenes. It was incredibly rare for Infected guards to file a request for prosecutions for unjustified crime or murder.

To them, murder and disappearances were a common occurrence, people kidnapped and killed in the name of love everyday. The only way for someone to be brought to the Criminal Court was if it was proven that the motive of the crime had nothing to do with love or a Darling.

Lupita couldn't just let these men do nothing about her girlfriend's disappearance though. She didn't know what had happened, what this man was doing here and why he had been killed and she didn't know what had happened to her girlfriend either, but she wasn't going to let go of this until (Y/n) was back in her arms.

"Are you even listening to me?" She asked, anger bleeding into her voice. "What are you fucking useful for if you don't even-"

"Ma'am, I'm just doing my job. If you have anything to say, the mayor's son should be arriving shortly." The guard disregarded her with a wave of his hand, not even glancing back at her. And his words, although meant to be reassuring, had the opposite effect on Lupita.

Because if anyone was on her list of suspects, it was Jasper. Him coming to assess what he himself had done made absolutely no fucking sense.

"Are you kidding me?!" She asked, "He's most likely the one who did this in the first place! Can't you just listen to me and search for her?!"

"Ma'am, once again-"

The guard didn't get to finish his sentence, because before he could, the front door to Miguel's Kitchen opened and in, stepped Jasper. The very last person Lupita wanted to see at this moment, but also the very first person she ached to confront. Because if anyone had anything to do with (Y/n)'s disappearance it was him.

It had to be.

Jasper rushed inside, not even acknowledging the people around him. And the way Jasper frantically looked around for any signs of (Y/n), the way fear riddled his features and the way cold rage simmered beneath his skin told Lupita that maybe he wasn't responsible for her girlfriend's disappearance after all. That, or he was a damn good actor.

"Where is she?" Were Jasper's first words, authoritative and commanding. The guard who had been ignoring Lupita now turned all his attention to Jasper, anxiety written all over his features. If it wasn't for the gravity of the situation, Lupita would have laughed at the sight.

"Where is who, sir?" A nervous chuckle fell from his lips, the poor man terrified of who he knew to be a notorious hitman. If there were doubts about Jasper's profession amongst citizens, there were none amongst the guards who had been tasked with ignoring Jasper's involvement in orchestrated murders. "The body's there and-"

"(Y/n)." Jasper cut him off, in a voice that betrayed the tension and frustration brewing inside him. "Where is (Y/n)?"

For the first time, his gaze slid over to Lupita, hard and cold as ice.

"(Y/n)? You mean the other barista?" The guard asked with a quizzical look. "We think she's been reunited with her Darling, so no need to wor-"

"No, she hasn't." Jasper interrupted again, his thoughts working overtime as he pondered over his next words.

He knew Penelope had said that (Y/n) would hate him if he ever revealed her identity as an Uninfected, and he knew Penelope was right. But right now, when faced with the options of either losing (Y/n) forever or her hating him temporarily, Jasper had to settle for the latter. He wouldn't let anyone get away with abducting his Darling and taking her away from him, and whoever did this would have hell to pay.

Jasper had always been one for quick and efficient work, a slit throat or a bullet in the head. But when whoever had taken (Y/n) away from him would be in for excruciating hours of torture and Jasper would make sure that they would beg him for the sweet relief of death before long.

As for his sweet Darling... Jasper still couldn't stomach the thought of her ever hating him. But he didn't have a choice right now, he'd just have to find a way to deal with the consequences of his actions and make her love him one way or another. So with a scrunched up stomach, Jasper finally spoke.

"(Y/n) is Uninfected."

As expected, his words imposed a deafening silence. On the other side of the room, Lupita stared at him with wide horror filled eyes, unable to believe what had just happened.

Fuck.

Lupita didn't know what was worse anymore, the fact her girlfriend had gone missing or the fact the whole Infected city was now going to know that she was Uninfected and would be searching for her to bring her to the Uninfected Shelter. Now, it seemed that the guard's interest had been spiked though, because if (Y/n) truly was Uninfected they had no choice but to take this seriously.

Abducting an unreported Uninfected was a crime, and not one the Infected society saw as socially acceptable.

"What? What makes you say that?" The guard frowned, trying to make sense of Jasper's revelation. "Sir, you know these kind of accusations aren't to be-"

"Considered lightly." Jasper finished in his stead, features impassible. "I know, and I have good reasons to think that (Y/n) Parker is Uninfected. Her ID is a fake for starters, she doesn't appear anywhere in the city's administrative history and she's incredibly weak compared to a normally constituted Infected."

Jasper silently waited for the man to give him an answer, but when the guard did not, he continued.

"You have no choice but to search for her. I already communicated this to the media, and they'll be launching wanted notices to let people know about the situation." Jasper said, firm and unblinking, "I'll be leading the research and we start now. I want guards to search every residence, every house and every apartment for traces of her."

"Sir, we can't just invade people's privacy-"

"This is a code red emergency." Jasper cut the guard off, leaving no room for argument, his gaze sharp and cutting. "You'll do as I say or get fired."

Jasper then turned to Lupita, "Do you know anything that could be helpful? Were you here when this happened?" He said, gesturing to the corpse in front of them.

Lupita willed herself not to crumble under his scrutinising gaze, she needed to keep cool, for (Y/n). And although (Y/n) having been uncovered as an Uninfected is far from good news, Lupita had to work with it and work with whatever could lead her back to (Y/n). When they found her, Lupita would figure something out to get the both of them out of this predicament.

"I wasn't here, no." She said, internally gagging as her eyes landed on the mutilated corpse. This was a sight she'd never be able to forget. "But I remember this guy as one of our customers from yesterday. He was a bit... strange."

Now, Lupita didn't know what strange meant in Infected standards, but this guy's behaviour had been incredibly unsettling and nerve wracking and Lupita was convinced that even if (Y/n) and herself had been infected the effect would have been the same. They would have still been terrified.

Jasper remained silent, observing her as if scrutinising her for any sign of dishonesty. Until he broke the silence to ask Lupita what had been on his mind ever since he entered the coffee shop and spotted her inside.

"Are you the one behind this?"

Jasper wouldn't be surprised if she was. He hadn't worried about Lupita and (Y/n)'s friendship beforehand because he didn't see Lupita as a threat, but he had to admit that the two of them were quite close and he wouldn't shame Lupita for falling for his Darling. (Y/n) was perfect after all. Maybe Lupita had acted in the name of Love, not knowing that (Y/n) was Uninfected. Or maybe she had known, and that would make her a criminal. Either way, Jasper was getting (Y/n) back.

"What?" Lupita couldn't believe her own ears, bile rising up the back of her throat at the mere idea of killing someone and having blood on her hands. "No! I did no such thing!"

Jasper stilled, thoughtfully nibbling on his nail before shooting her a cold smile that felt more like a warning than an acknowledgement of her innocence.

"Okay, if you say so. Your house will be looked into anyways, if you're lying we'll find out soon enough." He said, turning on his heels and stalking towards the door, avoiding the body and blood on the floor with swift ease. He stopped at the door, turning around to look at Lupita one more time. "You know what we do to criminals here, don't you?"

Lupita's stomach churned at his words, unease crawling over her skin. Because she knew all too well what happened to criminals in the Infected city, from having witnessed one too many executions as a child. And it was clear that Jasper's lighthearted question had been meant as a threat.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Lupita knew she was innocent, that they wouldn't find anything in her house and that Jasper's suspicions would crumble before long. But knowing he had painted a target in her back still terrified her, as ephemeral as said target might be. Still, she willed herself to fix her gaze into his own without flinching.

"Yes, I know, sir."











































Penelope couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the news on the TV screen, namely black and white images of what looked to be Artty's disfigured corpse lying on the floor of Miguel's Kitchen. She froze on the couch, her knuckles turning white on the remote.

She hadn't had any news from Artty since he had stood her up the day before. Not that she had been expecting any news from him, but she'd been expecting for him to show up at her house and torture her some more with his trademark unsufferable grin.

He's dead?

Gosh, she had dreamed of this happening for so long that she struggled to believe it was even real. But there was no mistaking what was on the screen, even disfigured she could recognise Artty, the asshole had engrained himself in her memory whether she liked it or not.

Was this why he hadn't shown up yesterday? No, the body had most likely been discovered during the night or this morning, otherwise the news would have been broadcasted the day before in the afternoon. Well, Penelope could care less about when Artty had drawn his last breath, she was freed of him and that was all she needed to know.

Somehow though, Penelope couldn't bring herself to rejoice just yet. Artty was dead, yes, but he had been found at (Y/n)'s workplace of all places. And something about this fact made her incredibly uneasy. She had already had an ominous feeling the day before when Artty had stood her up, and she was terrified about the news confirming it for her.

Of course, Penelope should have known that it would. Her heart plummeted down to the pit of her stomach as the journalist faced the screen with a somber expression, one that had nothing to do with Artty's murder.

"(Y/n) Parker, recently reported as Uninfected, has disappeared under mysterious circumstances during her shift at Miguel's Coffee. This is a code red emergency and if you know anything about her disappearance you are strongly encouraged to let the authorities know. Remember that withholding information in such a case is considered a crime."









A/N:

Hi everyone! Hope you're all doing great and taking care :) Just to let you know that we only have a chapter left before the endings! I don't know when I'll be able to post it because it's exam season and I am packed with work, but I'll make sure to do it when I can :) Each character will have their own ending and I was thinking about opening a Q&A after that if you guys have any questions about Darling's characters or its lore :) Tell me if you'd be interested and if you already have questions don't hesitate to put them in the comments!