Chereads / Chaos Blade / Chapter 23 - Eternal Flame

Chapter 23 - Eternal Flame

Alucard was in her office busy typing up a report for her investigation at the nightclub until she heard a knock on her door. Unlike the other rooms in the facility Alucard and the Director's offices were both old-fashioned with engraved wooden doors that creaked as you opened them instead of automatic doors that slide when granted access.

"Come in." Alucard yelled as she didn't want to get up.

It was Shen. He immediately bowed as he entered. "Pardon my intrusion, Ms. Alucard."

Alucard was slightly annoyed, "Shen. How many times do I have to say to stop calling me that?"

Shen bowed his head once more, "My apologies."

He cleared his throat and spoke. "We have prepared the subject. You may begin your interrogation when it suits you."

Alucard stopped typing and faced Shen. "So he is awake..."

"Yes, ma'am. The subject is able to talk as well but to ensure nothing goes wrong Madam Archette and I will be observers in your interrogation."

Alucard was confused. "What's wrong with the subject?"

Shen hesitated for a second, "H-h-he is a little unstable."

"Is that all?"

Shen pulled up a report that he was carrying as he walked into the room. He placed the folder onto Alucard's desk and took a step away from her. "This is the data that we analyzed from the subject. Everything we uncovered so far is in here."

Alucard flipped through the report and saw something that peaked her interest.

"It says here that the subject had ingested an object of some sort?"

"Yes. The subject had consumed something before he passed out. We assumed that he tried to kill himself before we got to him but, I guess he survived." Shen responded.

Alucard closed the report and set it aside.

"Good work. I'll let you know when I'm prepared. You can leave."

Shen bowed his head and walked out of Alucard's office. The creaking of the old wooden doors made an audible noise as he slowly closed the doors. Shen then saw Ceros outside of Alucard's office he bowed to her and left without saying a word.

Ceros strolled into the office and jumped into the couch near Alucard's desk. She smothered her face into a pillow and started snoring. Alucard closed her laptop and walked around to Ceros on the couch. She then bonked her on the head with a folder..

"Uwah! That hurt mastah." Ceros said as rubbed her head.

"Darling, I want you to do some reconnaissance. I want you to find anything you can surrounding the recent murders around the city." Alucard placed the folder on a coffee table in front of the couch. "Here is some information to get you started. A list of local spots and destinations that are similar to the murder scenes."

Ceros began flipping through the pages of the folder. She was staring intently at the contents and then closed the folder and set it on the coffee table in front of her.

"Mastah when do you want to start?" Ceros said in a serious tone.

"As soon as possible. Can you do it?"

"Of course. I'll will report to you in a couple of days."

Ceros picked up the folder and put it in her backpack. She then got up and left and slowly closed the door on her way out.

'It's been fairly quiet since the last murder took place. The perpetrator may have taken this time to take the heat off of themselves. I can't let this opportunity go to waste. This time gap may be the only way to get the jump on her. Darling I'm counting on you..' Alucard pondered the thought as she sat on the couch staring at the folder that Shen gave her.

In the evening Alucard had called Archette and Shen for a preliminary meeting in her office. Shen and Archette were both sitting on the couch in front of Alucard.

"We'll begin the interrogation in a few hours. Will the director be there to watch?"

"No ma'am. We'll be the one's supervising the interrogation in his stead. He wants us to report only the findings to him." Shen said.

Archette then began to express her concerns. "You're a professional but, you should expect the worse out of this. I expect you to be ready."

With a stern expression Alucard said, "I am prepared."

"Good. We'll see you in interrogation room 3."

Archette and Shen leave her office once more.

At the interrogation room it was the same empty room that they kept Mio in. Along with the same one-way mirror that Alucard and The Director used to observe Mio. Before the interrogation started Alucard entered the one-way mirror room to greet Archette and Shen once more. They told her to wait for the Blood Moons to bring in the subject into the interrogation room.

After a while they saw a disheveled young man in white clothes with handcuffed wrists walking slowly into the interrogation room. The man was brought by two familiar faces. Jerimiah a lanky guy with long hair while Aiden a slightly built guy with short hair.

"Aiden. Jerimiah." Alucard said as she greeted the guards.

They both saluted Alucard and began to seat the man in his chair. Alucard proceeded to take a seat on the other side. Jeremiah and Aiden decided to stand on the back corners of the room. Alucard saw them and immediately signaled them to exit the room.

"Ma'am are you sure?" Aiden was concerned.

"I can handle it from here. Don't worry about me." Alucard said reassuringly.

As soon as the door shut. It was complete silence. The man had his head on the table not saying a word. The only thing that came out of his mouth were groans of pain. Alucard calmly asked the man a couple of questions to see if he would respond.

"Why were you at the bank during the time of the incident?"

"Ughh..." The man's head rolled over so that his ear was touching the table instead of his forehead.

Alucard continued, "We found a large man in the middle of the bank with severe injuries. He was a wearing a peculiar white robe. Similar to the ones most of you were wearing during the incident."

Alucard put a several photos next to the man's head. Photos that contained Goliath's body and the blood stained floor filled with goons and bank patrons.

"I-i-it...doesn't matter....anyways.." The man was mumbling under his breath.

Alucard was intrigued. She pressed him even more. "Your friends and so called leader were all wiped out by something. The bank was in shambles, pieces of the floor was ripped from the ground and the walls were filled with holes."

Alucard put more photos next to the man.

"I-i-it's...for...the greater good..." The man started to speak up.

"What greater good? All your buddies couldn't even do this right. You got your asses handed to you."

"A heretic like you wouldn't understand our Lord's divine sacrifice!" The man slammed his handcuffed hands on the photos. "Our salvation is imminent...His followers' sacrifice will not be in vain.." The man was rambling.

"Your God won't save you, just like your supposed leader. You're all just thugs hiding under the guise of religion. You can't even take responsibility for your actions!"

The man was snarling under his breath. "We will find you..We have eyes...everywhere..."

The man took a good look at Alucard. "Even a beauty like you will look pretty in His Flames..."

"Who are you? What are you after?" Alucard wanted to get to the bottom of his ramblings and misconstrued words.

"We....are disciples... WE ARE MEsSiah's ETERNAL...."

"eNouGh U haVE spOken 2 mUch..." An ominous voice rang. "BUrn!!!"

".....FLAMEEEE!!!!" The man got up off his chair and started screaming. The man instantly bursted into flames in the middle of the interrogation room.

Quickly Alucard got up from her chair and immediately called for Aiden and Jeremiah. The man was rolling on the floor still screaming from the pain as the fire's intensity increased. Aiden and Jeremiah both brought in fire extinguishers to put out the fire but it wouldn't go out. They emptied the entire canister to remove the flames but it had no effect. Eventually the screaming stopped and the fire went out on its own. Alucard gathered her things off of the interrogation table and walked out.

Shen and Archette standing in front of the one way mirror staring at Aiden and Jeremiah cover and cleanup the burnt body.

"Madam what do you make of the situation now?" Shen asked as he turned towards Archette.

"We could be dealing with a bunch of nutjobs or someone really powerful." Archette chuckled. "I'm going to guess a really sketchy organization."

Shen was irritated, "Madam take this seriously. The man just combusted out of thin air!"

Archette patted Shen on the back. "You worry too much. We have all the data that we observed. At least Alucard does."

Archette then left the room leaving Shen behind. Shen then clenched his fists. "That woman is insane."

In Alucard's office, Alucard was sitting on her couch deep in thought. She was pondering on the man's words and what to make of them. It then reminded her of a similar outcry.

She whispered to herself, "'This is all for the Glory of God...' I don't think it has to do with the case that were currently dealing with but something else. Something that's lurking in the shadows.."

The next day at the university Mio was sitting in her lecture haphazardly listening to her professor. She had her laptop opened same as always to write some notes until she noticed a girl walk into her lecture. It was pretty noticeable since she was late and the silence from the lecture hall made it worse. As she sat down at a desk Mio noticed something familiar about her.

'It's the same girl as before..' Mio wondered.

She didn't pay attention to her face before as she didn't care but, now that she got a good look at her she knew who she was. Mio noticed that she was awkwardly staring at the girl for too long so she quickly turned and looked at her laptop. After a while she took a quick glimpse and saw that the girl had a mark on her neck.

'It's her..It's Maria..'

Mio was surprised that she decided to come back to the university after all that happened during the first part of the semester. Mio was happy that she was okay. She was hoping to talk to her after class but she was hesitant to do so.

Mio looked at her hands as she stared down at the floor.

'Maybe...when the time is right...'