The days passed with difficulty and turned into weeks. Each new hour that passed increased the uncertainty of finding Minndt. Vampires were good at going unnoticed; their hideouts could be anywhere in the world, from the most unusual to the most crowded. Who knows if they had chosen a big city or a small town where nothing ever happened? Day didn't know where to start looking. The brouhaha around him didn't help him focus on the map of the world in front of him. At least until the evidence hits him hard.
"He can be anywhere," Leit sighed, taking his gaze away from the map. "In Alaska, in the Andes, in the middle of the Nordic countries...Everywhere."
"No, I don't think he could be everywhere since vampires don't tolerate high temperatures and the sun well."
"Not false."
"So we can remove all the places on the globe where the temperatures are high. Let's take 20°C as a base: that is a temperature between hot and cold, and remove from our list all the places where the weekly temperature is above."
"Um, that would take away a significant number of possibilities. That's not silly. Hey, where are you going?"
"I need to call someone who can help us."
"Seriously? Who's that?" Nyx exclaimed, pausing for a moment to shake Foud.
"Is there any network here?"
"Yes, of course! But that doesn't answer my question."
"Perfect."
"Who are you going to call, sir: "I ignore people now?""
"The owner of the pub where I work, well, where I used to work."
"How will he help us find Minndt? He's just a human." Toxin spat, crossing his arms.
"I advise you not to underestimate him. If there is anyone in Inverness who knows something, it's him! Maybe they are still in this town or around. Go call to see if he saw or learned anything suspicious! Nyx stops shaking our Foud; it's not an apple tree!"
"That's a shame."
"Let him go, please. He's going to end up sick."
"He just has to stop annoying me."
"Little kid ..."
"Oh eh, go on the phone and you lightning on your legs, stop looking for me now!"
Just from the little smirk at the corner of Foud's lips, Day knew he wouldn't stop annoying him, so he hurried out. No sooner had he closed the door behind him when Nyx's voice rose again against the lightning god who was laughing heartily. Real children. The blond quickly walked away from the card room and hurried up the grand principal staircase. The upper floor was similar to the lower floor but, there was something heavy and dark in the air. That seemed to come from the second floor. Day was terrified of this condemned floor where the light was only a memory of a time long ago. Sometimes the young man heard footsteps above him or snatches of sentences as if someone lived there. Therefore he never approached alone the large staircase that led to this floor. Damaged and having holes in its steps once white, this staircase was the condemnation's access to this floor.
The Lord's son, who ran this place, opened the door to one of the six training rooms present in this monastery and came to sit on a small stool. Looking at the expanses of the garden, he waited for someone to answer the question on the line.
"This is the Denver pub. What can I do for you?" the boss asked mechanically in a neutral but tender tone.
"Help me?"
"Day? My boy! Isn't it okay not to give news like this for two months?! I was so scared; I thought you had set sail without even saying goodbye!"
"That's kind of what I did. I'm so sorry."
"Why did you leave the town?"
"Let's say troubles found me, that's it."
"Has your stalker come to your house?"
"If only there was one, I had to leave because they tried to kill me and… that's it. It happened for the first time."
"Your heat?"
"Yes."
"This news won't lessen my worry about you. I should come to see you. Where are you?"
"At the other end of the world?"
"But how, why?"
"It's complicated ..."
"You've gone back to your family, haven't you?"
"I had no choice. I would have something to ask of you, please."
"I'm listening to you."
"Have you noticed anything weird in Inverness?"
A silence settled between the two men. The younger heard the telephone receiver put down, and he could hear a drawer being opened. Before he even had time to ask if he was still there, the boss spoke up.
"I wrote down anything that seemed suspicious to me." he started as he leafed through his notebook.
"I am listening to you."
"For several weeks, men dressed entirely in black hung out in front of the pub and came several times until it closed. I heard there was a brawl in February in the alley next to the pharmacy. When the police arrived, they just found medicine. Witnesses said that the people who were fighting spoke a strange language. "
"Please continue."
"These people in black, sometimes I heard them speak in a language which means nothing to me… I passed by your house several times to see if you had come back and I saw some lying in front of them, they stared at me until I disappear from their view. I think I'm being followed. There is often a black van following me when I go for a walk with my wife and, it was there by the alley. "
"A black van, you say? Did you take note of the license plate?"
"My wife wrote it down: SY18 SIN."
"Thank you very much. It will be useful to me!"
"Why do you need this information exactly? You are not in something dangerous and illegal, I hope. Once in the mafia..."
"Do not worry, I am not in something fishy. I'm looking for a friend who's missing."
"How is he?"
"He has black hair with a white streak reaching down to the middle of his neck."
"Was he wearing black pants when he disappeared?"
"Yes!"
"Oh, so I saw him come out of the drugstore! There were two of these men in black behind them. Maybe they were the ones fighting in the alley."
"I think yes, thank you very much! If you see anything new, please give me a call or drop me a line with your number!"
"It's noted. Be careful, Day… I hope you come back to see me one of these days."
"As soon as things get better, I will be back."
"Call me when you come back. I'll pay for your round!"
"Haha, okay, that's fine with me!"
"See you soon, Day."
"Goodbye, Mr Denver."
The younger hung up first and looked at his phone before sweeping his gaze around. Had he just seen someone walk past the training room? The blond walked out of the room and looked around, so that he couldn't see anyone, heard no footsteps on the stairs. Cautiously he walked towards the main staircase and didn't know why but he felt the need to look in the direction of the second floor. Examining the darkness in which the other part was plunged, he dared to put one foot on the first step.
"Is there anyone up there?" he asked futilely but with some lingering doubt.
No verbal response came, just the sound of an object rolling on the ground slowly but surely before falling down the steps. The wooden ball quickly reached the landing and banged against the wall before heading for the other part of the staircase. Day delicately climbed a few more steps to catch the ball before it fell into a hole and watched it for a moment. Something was moving inside. The blond looked up cautiously upstairs and, after seeing nothing and no one, went back down the few steps and rushed back to the card room. He took care to hide the wooden ball under its two layers of tops. After making sure that it did not create a bump, he opened the door.
"Ah, there you are again!" Moain smirked after he entered the room. "Do you have any useful information to share with us?"
"They're roaming Inverness, and my old boss has seen Minndt."
"Perfect!"
"He said when he got out, two men in black followed him. There was a brawl in the alley next door where the police just found some medicine on the floor."
"He shouldn't have gone. I had to go in his place..." Lou lamented, sinking into his seat.
"And it was you who would have been kidnapped. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known these pests were going to do this. There was a van in front. My old boss said he was being followed by the same he gave me the plate is SY18 SIN."
"I know this plate!" Nyx's brother abruptly announced, pulling away from the wall map. "I saw him walking around the night before we went to this furniture store. He stopped a bit far away, at the bridge and, when I slowed down as I approached, the driver suddenly sped up."
"Did you see what he looked like?"
"Ugly."
"What precision," Nyx quipped, rolling his eyes.
"That's an important point for me. Had big eyes and a little nose, thin lips that were pinched tightly. Also, short hair was erect on the top of this ugly head. It was disgusting. Oh, and he was wearing a black sweatshirt."
"Anyone with him?"
"No, nobody. He gave me one of those looks when we passed each other. I wanted to kill him."
"It doesn't even surprise me, you see. Okay, we have a vehicle with its license plate, statements from a local and some information on what happened with Minndt… that we do?"
Day walked over to the large map and analyzed it for a moment before turning to his team.
"We are restricting the geographic area. These guys are still in Inverness near my home, but they cannot stay in this area indefinitely without being spotted."
"And so?" Toxin questioned between sips of his tea.
"They have landmarks on the outskirts of the city and one in the city. The road in front of my house is one of the main axes to enter and leave mainly the city."
"How can you be sure?"
"There are a lot of them who take turns in the pub and around town so often. They must have warehouses as benchmarks but not disused so as not to attract young people and all."
"Maybe they have a business as a cover?" hypothesized Leit.
"We would have to go there and do every warehouse on the outskirts of town, but they have a place in the town itself..."
"Has there been a house for sale by your house in the last six months? To watch you as much, they are near your house."
"There were two, on Bellfield Park Street across from access. You parked in front."
"We threw ourselves into the mouth of the wolf without knowing it..."
They all looked at each other before sighing at the same time.
"So Minndt is either in one of these warehouses or these houses." summed up Nyx, standing up.
"The two houses are adjoining so, they probably bought both to have a bigger one and have peace."
"Those bastards..."
"We should divide into two groups. One goes around the city, searching for large warehouses in front of which parked a black van with this plate. Another which will see these houses."
"Let's do this. You stay here for the information."
"What?!"
"They tried to kill you. We're not going to take you to these pests!"
"I'm not going to sit here and wait! Tch… You need to be in constant communication with each other. We need headsets, and I need a computer."
"Oh yes, I love this idea!" Foud stomped, looking at his comrades. "I told you that we have to modernize even more!"
"Could you find this for me?"
"Of course, I've watched videos on the internet that talk about it. It's fantastic, there are powerful ones that have huge storage capacities, and I think we need powerful ones like that!"
"We're screwed, that's it." Moain sighed before looking up at the god of lightning.
"It's interesting all this modernity, we are in 2021 we have to move on to the new era!"
"Exactly, and then it will allow us to cover more area and be aware in real-time where the others are."
Although sceptical, Moain nodded slightly and stood up in turn before leaving the room with the other gods. Quickly finding himself alone, Day passed his hand under the two layers that covered his chest and took out the wooden ball. He watched her again for a moment, turning her and turning her over before smiling.