Elvina did not eat anything for two days. She would just keep squatting near the cat as he slept in her bed.
It was said that cats don't let their owner see them when they are dying. They run away to find a place of comfort.
It was another stormy night, just like the night when they first took in that sickly cat.
When Elvina and Claire were sleeping, the cat woke up Elvina in the middle of the night and sat on her lap as his body convulsed.
And it was the first time when Claire heard a sob escaping her sister's mouth.
It was followed by another sob till Elvina's tears showed no signs of stopping.
The girl did not even cry when they lost their parents. Back then, whether it was a strong façade she was putting up or Elvina was doing it so that she would not breakdown, Claire was not sure.
But when Claire watched Elvina crying desperately while hugging the cat in her arms, she did not know what to do.
'Livy, we can save him,' she told Elvina, suddenly remembering something that her father once told her, 'If you feed him your blood and use your powers to heal him then he will be fine but…' But it might endanger her life because they were not in the sea.
They were living on the lands and they had yet to get accustomed to using their powers here.
Their Aunt was in their Kingdom, handling the political affairs and the 15-year-old Claire was hesitant about putting her sister's life in danger.
But when she informed her sister about it, she did not expect Elvina to bite her wrist without a second thought.
She fed her blood to the cat before placing her hand on his head.
A blue light enveloped them and the cat's pale grey eyes started turning blue.
As the glow faded, Elvina slumped on the bed, unconscious.
'Livy!!'
…
''Sister… Clairy..!"
Claire snapped out of her daze.
''What are you thinking about?"
''Just some old things,'' Claire shook her head.
From that day, her aloof sister had a little thing that she felt responsible for.
And the malnourished cat from back then was now Gold, the chubby cat who usually posed as the Chairman of the cat association in the streets.
Elvina rolled her eyes, ''Did you deal with the CCTV?"
''Yes,'' Claire straightened up, ''Do you think Archer would look into it?"
''We can't be sure. I believe he has already started investigating me,'' Elvina briefed Claire about the arguments they had and how he called her manipulative.
Claire frowned, ''I told you. Emir was our best bet. This man is much more complicated than he seems to be.''
''I don't know. It didn't feel right with Emir,'' Elvina frowned.
''And it feels right with Archer?" Claire narrowed her eyes.
''Archer,'' Elvina leaned back on the couch, her fingers stroking Gold, ''He changes his women like clothes. One wife would not change the course of his life. When we are divorced, he can easily go on with his own life and as for Emir, he is a different kind of person. I didn't want him to be emotionally involved in all this. It would be troublesome for me.''
Although she was saying that, Claire understood that she did what she did because she did not want to hurt anyone's feelings.
Elvina might act unfeeling, but a small part of her heart was still as soft and innocent.
Back in Relis, Elvina had overheard the conversation between Archer and Emir.
Emir wanted to be with the woman whom he could love and Elvina could not bring herself to be ruthless to trap him in their schemes. She did not show it but Claire could understand every shift in her sister's expressions.
''But Archer would have never thought that we are sisters and also his neighbors,'' Claire switched the topic.
''Mhm,'' Elvina nodded. She never lived here and Claire owned other places in the city.
Everyone knew that Claire Delaney had one luxurious villa in Silverton, right opposite Archer's but what they did not was that both of them owned the place.
''I have something to tell you,'' Claire said, placing the glass of wine on the coffee table.
She squatted on the floor and brought a file from under the couch.
''Do you remember those guns that you collected from that cave?"
Elvina nodded. Back then, some of them dropped their empty guns in that cave and she had kept them.
After investigating it, they went to France, looking for that gun dealer.
But that gun dealer said he had not seen anyone's face.
And all he gave was a few useless clues that led to nowhere.
''We caught Andrew because we saw his face that night and he was a famous man but about the other people, I think I've got a clue,'' Elvina brought out a thumb-sized crystal from her clutch and infused her powers in it.
The scene from 16 years ago flashed in front of their eyes.
Since the time they were young, Elvina has always been fond of sparkly things while Claire was not interested in them.
But these crystals being rare was the sole reason for Claire to demand some from her younger sister.
They were rare because they were similar to how cameras worked in the human world. These crystals could record their surroundings.
The only difference between videos and the scenes captured by these crystals was that video contained voice while these crystals only kept the recording without any audio.
That night, Claire had stolen some of these crystals from her sister's secret treasury so that she could capture the outside world.
But the heavens had different plans for them.
The crystals meant to witness their happy occasion became the sole witness of their misery on that dark night.
Both the sisters tried their best to ignore their parents who were being tortured by the humans.
Their attention was focused on the murderers.
Everytime they saw their parents being tortured in these crystals, it broke their hearts all over again.
''See that,'' Elvina said, ''The person who is strangling mother… his hand…''
''Those patches,'' Claire frowned. They never noticed it before because it was barely visible from the person's long-sleeved jacket, ''Vitiligo.''
''Yes.''
Elvina placed the crystal in her clutch before she picked up the file that Claire gave to her earlier.
''Cardale Empires,'' Elvina flipped the pages, a frown tugging between her brows.
Claire nodded, ''The person who was doing the transactions for the guns did not use his private card. Instead, he used the cards provided by the company to do the transactions for all the guns that they acquired from the gun dealer.''
''So, that person works in Cardale Empire,'' Elvina frowned.
They got two clues. One murderer worked in Cardale Empires and the other possibly has vitiligo. But how would these vague clues lead them to those murderers?
''Yes, and before leaving Relis, I made arrangements for that gun dealer to come here. I dispatched a team of my bodyguards and threatened him into coming here,'' Claire pushed herself to her feet, ''He reached here somewhat 1 hour ago. So, we should get going now.''
''And you were making out with a man instead of telling me about this?" Elvina pushed herself to her feet.
Claire scratched the back of her neck, ''It was your wedding night after all. I thought my sister is going to get late so I should not waste my time,'' she winked before running upstairs.
Elvina clicked her tongue.
She carried Gold in her arms and walked towards her room which was on the ground floor.
…
Inside a grand newly inaugurated club in Hayselton city.
A black Mercedez Benz stopped in front of the club and when the security noticed the number on the car plate, they immediately stepped forward and opened the door.
''President Delaney,'' they bowed at the masked woman who was wearing a bodycon white sequined dress.
They were informed that there would be some VIP guests here today but the number exceeded their expectations.
The guards were bewildered when they saw another woman stepping out of the car.
Unlike the woman whom they bowed to, the woman in black did not have a mask on her face and they recognized her. Only then did they realize that they just greeted the wrong person.
''It's fine,'' Claire waved her hand when she saw their panic-stricken faces.
She adjusted the sleeves of her black sweetheart neckline dress before stepping around the car and approaching her sister.
She handed her clutch to Elvina, who took it, albeit with a questioning expression on her face as they stepped inside.
''What happened?'' Elvina whispered, adjusting the white mask covering half of her face.
There was some masquerade party going on in the club and it gave her a decent opportunity to disguise herself properly.
Although she found t weird because this was not the kind of place where rich people would celebrate their birthdays.
Of course, the club was luxurious and all but still… From what Claire told her, it seems to be the birthday of some mysterious big shot. Why would he celebrate here?
She shrugged off her thoughts and focused on her sister who was acting somewhat suspicious.
''Uh… I think…''
''What?" Elvina adjusted her mask again, panic coursing through her heart. Don't tell me this woman forgot to call that gun dealer here or something?
She could not help her negative thoughts. Her sister had a habit of forgetting stuff at important times.
''Livy, when I was driving, I thought I wore my bra upside down,'' Claire leaned closer to her, ''But I just realize... uhh... I accidentally went braless.''
"_"