Thalia's funeral was held with only their close relatives and some friends. Xander stood at the corner and watched them mourn. He arrived and gave his condolences to the bereaved family before going to the coffin to get a last glimpse of Thalia. Just like before, she remained beautiful like the description of brutal did not appear on the news. This must have been done by her family to cover what had happened to her.
"I did not expect this to happen to her. I admit that she's annoying but she did not deserve to be killed or rather no one deserved to be treated like that. It was a good decision that the family decided to restore her face," Carl commented as he stood with Xander.
"This only means that the killer is not discriminating with their kill. I'll need to increase Xerra's bodyguards from now on."
Cartnan was not as peaceful before and Xander don't want to expose his sister to such violence. He knew that it was not convenient to have so many bodyguards but Xerra needed the extra protection.
"If that's your decision then you should let them hide from a distance so as not to distract Xerra," Carl suggested because if he were in Xander's situation, he would also do the same. Xander nodded and the both of them stayed for another half an hour before they bid the family goodbye.
The atmosphere inside the car did not change and it remained gloomy which made Carl uncomfortable but Xander on the other hand was silent and lost on his own thoughts.
"By the way, Mr. Crellac is requesting for a meeting regarding the art gallery," he informed Xander since the information was relayed to him.
"I understand. I'll let Lillian set up a date and inform Mr. Crellac, for now I think I need to go home and rest for a while. This week had not been good…" he trailed off and sighed. Ever since that morning, he was not feeling well. It was as if his body was being weighed down by something he doesn't see and his mood had been unstable for the past days.
"Okay," Carl did not say any more as they dropped him off at the vacation house where they were currently staying. "Rest well."
The house was silent and felt lonely but that did not matter to him because all he wanted to do was to lay on his bed and close his eyes. He walked up the stairs and followed the corridor that led to his room where he removed his coat and the moment that he passed by the mirror he was suddenly startled. He walked back to stand in front of the mirror but he saw nothing abnormal on it. He frowned and remained standing there for a minute before he shook his head and headed to the bathroom.
A black smoke appeared on the mirror just after he left and a face suddenly appeared on it wearing a sinister grin. Xander thought that it was only his imagination but something sinister was with them. The thought of the black smoke did not cross his mind again after that encounter but that ominous thing remained.
His days passed by as always and the world continued to move and people eventually forgot what had happened just a few days ago but the investigation was still going on. The stalking had also stopped for a while and Xander has not received or felt anything weird around him which made him sigh in relief but little did he know that it was only the prelude to something bigger.
It was a normal day for him and for all the people around him. He even sent his sister at school and went to work. He even met with Mr. Crellac and discussed the current construction of the art gallery since he wanted to add something to it. After talking extensively about it, they finally agreed with the added design and Mr. Crellac was satisfied with it.
"Thank you for accommodating my request, Engineer Castillo." Mr. Crellac shook his and Carl's hands after the meeting. "I'm also satisfied with the current work and I'm really impressed to see that there was much progress even though I was gone for quite a time."
"We are pleased to hear that from you Mr. Crellac. It's one of our goals to keep our clients satisfied by maintaining our work pace as efficient as we can." Carl answered for the both of them with Xander nodding behind him. Mr. Crellac laughed and patted Carl's shoulders.
"Good," he stepped out followed by Xander and Carl. They walked with him and sent him outside where his car was already waiting but before he rode the car he looked back and gave Xander a smile. "The days are going to be gloomy and I hope that you keep yourself and remain positive."
Xander became confused at those words but he still thanked the man. "I'll remember that, thank you Mr. Crellac."
They watched the car leave while Carl was looking at Xander with questions written all over his face. "What was that?"
Xander shrugged his shoulders and turned around to enter the building once again. Carl ran after him but his friend remained silent because he himself does not know what Mr. Crellac meant by his words and for the rest of the day, he eventually forgot about it.
He was on his way home when he received a call from an unknown number. He gritted his teeth and clenched the phone before deciding to answer it. At first all he could hear was static then some steps before he could press the end button, he heard a very familiar voice. Never did it crossed his mind that one day he would hear his sister's voice in that kind of situation.
His sister's trembling voice and sobbing broke his heart. "Bro-brother, I'm scared please come and get me, I'm really scared right now…Brother…" Those words made his heart pound louder.
"Where are you Xerra? Are you alright?" He asked but instead of his sister's voice, he heard a different one. It was of a woman and the chill that run down on his spine was no joke because he instinctively knew that the woman was dangerous.
"I got you!" She said followed by a hysterical laugh. "If you obey all of my commands, your sister will stay safe but if you disobey me, I will make sure that you won't be able to see her again."
"What do you want?" he almost growled in anger but he managed to control himself because of the driver who was curiously looking at him through the center mirror.
"You, I want you! So carefully follow what I say and don't let the others notice you." The woman answered followed by another crackle. "Wait for my message. Remember that I am watching you so whatever you do, I'll know."
The call was cut off before Xander could even say a word. "Is everything alright, sir?" The driver finally asked after the call. It was out of concern since the man suddenly became pale after the call.
"I'm fine. I just need some rest." He shook his head and closed his eyes to avoid any other questions from the driver.
Since he was not willing to talk about it, the driver continued to drive in silence until they reached Xander's house. The driver watched as he alighted from the car and entered the house through the door on the garage. He then left after making sure that there was nothing wrong with the house's surroundings.
Xander tried to contact the captain assigned to guard his sister and could not contact him even the other numbers of the bodyguards remained unanswered. He paced around the living room while constantly looking at his phone for the message. He even debated whether he should call Carl and ask for help but when he was about to make the call, a message notification popped-up.
"I told you not to try anything funny because I am watching you." Was the text written on the message and he knew that he could not ask for help.
There was no time for him to reply because another one came again and it was a picture of a map with a certain area marked followed by a message. "Go to that place alone and don't even think of calling that friend of yours, remember that your sister is in my hands."
Xander waited for a while before leaving the house so as not to raise any suspicions but the werewolves who were assigned to guard him from the shadows still followed him. After driving for an hour he reached an abandoned building in the middle of the wilderness and the warriors were immediately alerted that there was something wrong with the place but before they could act, several men already surrounded and knocked them all out.
He stepped out of the car and stared at the eerie place in front of him before he walked towards it. The door was easily pushed opened and he saw no one inside aside from all the destroyed furniture and abandoned machineries.
"Where are you?" he shouted since there were no people inside. He walked around and opened every room he found on the first floor but despite all the noise he was making no one was still coming so he decided to go up the second floor and explore a bit more.
"He's so cute," a woman's voice echoed through the dark room that was only illuminated by the light from the monitors where she was watching all of Xander's movements. She then laughed and even touched the screen like she was touching the man himself. 'He will be yours now and I will help you to hide him from that werewolf.'
The woman laughed at the whisper on her ears, "Yes, I will lock him in a place where only the two of us can be alone."