Chapter 13

Viria used her locator spell to trace the way to the supplier. She summoned her familiars who teleported to her immediately.

It’s like you hardly need us unless Ivanna and Mitch aren’t there, Yin grumbled.

“You know I can’t have you guys witnessing some things for your own good,” she said as she climbed on Yang’s back.

What are we even good for, then?

“You help me make rational decisions that affect the public,” she reminded them. “All right, you see the trail? Start following and I’ll explain what to do on the site.”

Yin and Yang took off. Viria didn’t bother holding onto her hood and let the wind slip past her skin and hair. The barren land turned into grass and it soon led into the woods. Ten minutes through it and they’d come out onto a well-made street. Sticking to the trees, they followed the trail until they came to a petrol station. It was empty, closed, and rundown most definitely. But a little light peeking in through one of the broken window panes of the mart gave away activity. So did the very obvious large truck that stood there, surrounded by small vans. She ordered her familiars to near the site to drop her off. She sent them into hiding as soon as she got off, ordering them to make sure they waited strategically to target the vans. She walked to the truck quietly, paying the mart no mind. Placing her hand on the strangely cold door, she performed a transparency spell to see what was inside. Only visible to her eyes, she took in the scene. Cold boxes placed securely onto steel shelves, labelled with white tape and black marker. She immediately pulled the door up and entered the truck, collecting the essence off of the boxes leading to more bases. Once done, she stepped out and headed to the front, getting under and cutting off the wires, then slashing the tires. She did the same to the vans and took immediately to the mart.

Collecting essences was not a simple thing. The activity from the energies associated with the frozen eggs had played out in her head. And the scene popped red hot anger right in her heart. She saw the harassment, the unjustifiable treatment, and the trauma in the eyes of women. So many women.Old and young.Usually young ones who were susceptible to being captured.

Most women were rogues and that’s where all the problems rose. Rogues could not ask for help. They were easier to capture. They were easy to manipulate and be used by the Morbus. And they may be taking action to round them up and get them back into packs, and punishing criminals ones who had no real reason to consider upon, but Viria felt like it wasn’t enough. She simply felt she wasn’t doing enough.

The anger was silent. She walked to the mart and opened the door, entering the dark space made a mess. Packets of goods were strewn everywhere and boxes were pushed against the wall. The glass was brushed off to the side. The bulbs were broken, with one blinking weakly, sputtering the buzz of electricity it was being given. Viria wondered if there was a way she could cause a short circuit and make everything look like an accident. Have the whole place explode. Taking a peek through the crack of the door across, she saw a wild party raging. They were humans adorning red patches on the biceps that held the symbol of the Morbus. She scanned the area well. There was no one unrelated. She checked the place for prisoners. None.

Leaving the mart, she checked the fuel pumps to see if there was any petrol left. She scourged the garages and all the rooms to spare for oil. And she finally hit the jackpot in a storage room and got to work.

It only took a few minutes for the whole place to explode. But Viria and her familiars were already far enough away. She looked back and asked them to stop, watching as people ran out of the mart, heads and clothes on fire, some of them visibly bloody. But there was no putting out the fire. She stayed, making sure each one of them burned down to a crisp. Until they did not move anymore. And she’d made sure the truck and vans would be destroyed, too, along with their contents. Even they exploded soon enough.

“We’re done here,” she said. “Let’s go back.”

I thought you would capture them and demand answers, Yang said, seemingly uncomfortable.

“I got all I needed,” she said. The bears said nothing. They trusted her judgement and knew her reasoning was barely flawed. But Viria had acted out of pure anger this time. She had no patience for the Morbus. Not anymore.

****

Mitch pulled the wires away from the fridge and stuffed them in with his phone. The security had been messed with and would not open, no matter how much anyone tried. Unless machinery was involved to break the doors away. And he’d cut off the internal cooling. The cells, fertilized or not, would die from the change in temperature and there would be none to use. He had no question of it being unethical. They were not developed fetuses with heartbeats or brains. Life had not yet entered them. And they would be used for far unethical purposes after their existence, or thrown away should they turn out deformed.

The strength of his legs was enough to make him jump up to reach the ventilation shaft. He punched through the barrier and pulled himself in, following his GPS and crawling his way to the gynecologist’s office. Peering through the slits and making sure the coast was clear, he pulled the grill away and dropped into the room, landing on his feet. He immediately got to work, looking through the tools and destroying them, and also looking for spares to get rid of.

The creak of the door made him freeze, and he turned around to see a frail woman in a lab coat looking right at him, momentarily confused. She was such a weird grayish pale color with the dullest eyes, Mitch mistook her for an undead and raised his hand toward her, taking hold of the dark energy to control her with. The woman stilled, and her eyes went cloudy. That’s what alarmed Mitch.

He immediately let go of his powers and the life returned to her. She opened her mouth to scream but Mitch pointed toward her and got ahold of the dark energies again within her, and her voice got caught in her throat. Willing for her to walk inside just like he would with a corpse, the woman followed orders. She was made to turn and lock the door.

I shouldn’t be able to do this, he thought in a flurry of panic and confusion, but I did. Dammit, this must be unethical and punishable in some way.

Throwing his consciousness for ethics aside, he finished his work and jumped into the ventilation, pulling the shaft back and releasing the woman from his control. She looked so confused as she looked around and assessed the place. Shaking her head and blinking, she tried to make sense of things and Mitch knew she couldn’t see anything that had happened while under his control.

He quietly crawled away from the scene. He could hear the woman slamming her hand onto the emergency button, but nothing happened. Mitch sighed in relief and quickly went on his way to complete the job.

****

Cole’s ever growing suspicion of Gael could not be brushed off. He wasn’t sure what to feel but the meeting with Viria had awakened a new kind of insight within him. Also, it had been a while since he’d visited Gael and he knew he should drop by before heading to the Elder’s Council for the night.

When he arrived at the place, all did not seem well. He recognized Heather’s voice, heard her screaming and yelling her heart out at him. He heard not a peep from Gael, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to intrude upon the ordeal or somehow save Gael from the trouble he was in. He’d heard from Samuel that Gael didn’t want to see or associate himself with Heather ever again. Even that was suspicious since he knew how much Gael was in love with her.

He decided to interrupt it. He had to check up on him. But silence ensued and that alarmed him, so he quietly rushed to the living room where it seemed the commotion was coming from.

Yeah, he’s still very much in love with her, he thought with a roll of his eyes, turning around and walking away to give the kissing couple their privacy.I don’t get relationships one bit.

****

Gael pulled back from Heather, gently holding her face and looking her in the eyes. They were red and puffy, glossy from the tears. Her cheeks were wet and face blotchy, yet he still found her cute. But he couldn’t afford hurting her. He wanted to keep her at a distance. He knew she wouldn’t approve of his plans, but he had to go through with them.

“There is no other woman, Heather,” he explained gently as he pushed a stray lock behind her ear, “I have my own reasons. Look, I didn’t mean to call you annoying, okay? I’m just…very upset these days. I need space and time to reconcile with my losses. And you coming back here all the time only reminds me of everything I’m not anymore. That I wish I was for you.”

He hated himself for lying to her, but he knew he could explain himself after everything was dealt with, and that she would listen to him. He thought being mean to her before would drive her away but it did the exact opposite.

Heather breathed deeply and looked down at his chest, trying to calm her heart from the rage it had pent up.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“No, it’s all right,” he said and drew her close, holding her and rocking her gently. She buried her face into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him tightly as she took in his woodsy smell. She felt relieved, and guilty for questioning his loyalty. It had always been something that made her insecure, knowing they were each other’s old flame that sprung up again after he lost Hill. The betrayal he faced from her when it was revealed she worked with the Morbus. And she’d felt like she was being used as a rebound, but she’d given into Gael so easily still.

Gael pulled her away and looked into her eyes, rubbing her shoulders. “Do you want me to drop you off back to the Council?”

“No, it’s all right,” she said, pulling away and wiping her eyes, “I’ll get back easily.”

“Stay safe, and drop me a text when you get there.”

She nodded and reached out for one last hug and a kiss. He gave it to her willingly then walked her to the door. Once she’d left, he sighed and left for the basement, getting back to his training so abruptly interrupted by her barging into the house.

****

Mitch and Viria met at the underground room. He’d managed to complete his job, but he still had to explain to Viria where he slipped.

“It’s fine,” she said. “There will be nothing to back her claims, and no way to identify you or how you got in. You won’t be going back in there, anyway.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Anyway, I overheard the people in there saying the founder will be arriving at daylight.”

“If that’s so, then I’ll rest up,” she said. “We have three hours until then.”

“The meeting will be at nine in the morning,” he further explained.

“Six hours!” she said cheerily while laying out her cloak and using her bag as a pillow. “Enough for me to work on.”

Mitch chuckled as he watched her humming and taking her shoes off, stuffing the socks inside and placing them neatly by her makeshift bed.

“I’ll stay up and keep watch,” he said.

“No, you should definitely go home tomorrow and update the files.” She yawned. “Also, I put in co-ordinates of new bases I traced energies to, so put them on the map when you go back.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”

“Nothing I haven’t done before, Mitch.” She laughed.

“You’ll let yourself get caught, won’t you?”

“And I’ll come out just fine,” she said reassuringly as she lay down and closed her eyes. Mitch breathed deeply – even though he had none since he was an undead – shrugging to himself. He knew Viria could handle herself. He just wished there was a better way to find out things instead of letting herself get caught the way she did.