Staring directly into those ominous but majestic eyes, William didn't dare scream. The masked man extended his free hand and a short golden spear came out from under his cloak and he gripped it tightly in his white gloves.
William's head spun to figure out where he went wrong …Oh God, who on bloody earth is this?! Is this the masked man Berne told me about? How did he find me? Did he see me follow Miss Bethany? How did he know I would tail her?
The more he stared into those eyes the more he felt a creeping sense of dread encroaching upon him …Am I going to die again? Oh no, no, no, noooo… please…
Tears formed at the corner of William's eyes. He grabbed the hand that was on his mouth and grabbed it with every single strength he had.
…I don't want to die, I don't want to die… Although William couldn't use ki all too well, he infused ki into his arms and managed to slowly pull the hand on his mouth away but the masked man was way stronger than him.
'This strength isn't common for a child,' The masked man thought to himself before he removed his hand from William's mouth and held him freely by the neck.
"What do you want from me?! Do you think this will end well for you?! Once my father wakes up you're a dead man! How dare you set me up?!" William was screaming out the top of his hat. He didn't allow himself to think things through.
As William struggled and hurled out curses while the masked man remained silent.
William screamed until he started crying and lampooning, "...you're the one that tried to kill me, aren't you? You are also the one that put my father in that situation, didn't you? You bastard… Why would you do that to him? Trying to kill me wasn't enough for you…"
"If you don't kill me now…" William gnashed his teeth as tears rolled down his face and screamed with resolve, "If you don't kill me now I swear I'll come for your head in the future!"
The masked man calmly dropped William down, much to William's surprise, and then said with his authoritative and deep voice that seemed to echo, "I am V, the Captain of the Investigative Unit of M21 in Denvern. Mr. William Maxton, you are under questioning. Speak."
William felt a bucket of cold water wash over him …Sh*t! F*ck! F*ckin' hell, what have I done? Is this not the masked man? Arrrghhh! I should've asked for a description from Berne! What should I say? Oh my goodness I'm so screwed…
William looked to the side with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, "I-I don't know what you're talking about."
The masked man retracted the short golden spear and pinned William on the wall once again but this time with his forearm and demanded, "Don't play foolish. Why are you tailing your teacher? And the things you said earlier about someone trying to kill you and your father, speak."
William choked, he coughed a little before mustering, "I-I-I swear I don't know what you're talking about…"
"Mr. William Maxton, you have been our prime suspect in the missing children's case. Kindly cooperate, or I shall take you to the station for 'proper' questioning."
William felt a chill run down his spine. No one needed to teach him the true meaning of 'proper' questioning, He stuttered, "W-W-What?! Wait! Why?! I'm innocent! Is the church accusing me too just because my hair color is different?!"
V spoke calmly and replied with firmness, "Your hair color doesn't matter. What matters is what it means. Now, speak."
…I thought he could be the masked man but it seems he knows nothing about this. Then I think it's about time I report to an official authority… William quickly concluded. After all, he had already made the mistake of letting the cat out of the bag so the best thing to do was to use it to kill the vermin rats. He yelled, "I almost died, ok?! I was lured to Cottonshire by a kid I thought was my friend named Berne! He gave me to a vampire!"
V showed no sign of shock and immediately asked, "So you caused the explosion?"
William wore an expression full of disgust as he remembered the problems Selene brought against him regarding this matter and angrily replied, "No! How on earth could I even do that? I only remember being strangled and waking up with burns all over my body…"
"That explosion turned a vampire into crisp. How did you survive that?"
"I don't know! I know Berne said the vampire was a new Temple priest who kidnapped his sister with the help of a masked man! Th-that's why I thought it was you. After that, my father was attacked in our house and was gravely injured and has been unconscious since! I was tailing Miss Bethany to see if she had connections with vampires because I believe she hates me."
V let go of William and rubbed the chin of the golden skull mask, "Hmm, the Temple? Are you sure?"
"Yes! Why would I lie?"
"And your friend, Berne, told you all this?"
"Yes!"
V nodded, "Very well then. Thank you for your cooperation."
Before V could leave William stopped him, "Wait! Tell me, what's so wrong with my hair?! Everyone hates me for something I know nothing about! And now I and my father are the targets of assassins! What is wrong with you people?!"
V thought for a second before saying, "...There are many reasons people might want you dead. Are you aware your father controls the Docks?"
The Docks area was owned by the City of Denvern but Viscount Maxton owned the import and export business that let the city thrive. No one couldn't agree a man like Viscount Maxton wasn't the best individual to lead the trading system in the city.
"He… He does?" This was news to William.
V continued, "Also, irregular hair color is common in individuals with high spiritual energy. You are not from the family of any upper member of the churches nor do you have their ancestry, therefore the only other answer is that… you're cursed. An individual with the blood of a witch flowing through their veins. They are known to bring ruin to wherever they are."
William looked down and thought out loud, "...so, people think I'm possessed by the devil or something? So that's the doctrine…"
"Your mother was a lady of the night. Such occupations are common for witches. The townspeople believe she bewitched the viscount and bore him a child. But because of the viscount's knightliness, he took responsibility."
William tightened his fists and gnashed his teeth as he muttered, "Don't say that again…"
"Excuse me?"
William gestured with his hands and stared at V's dark eyes, "You know nothing. That story is as false as it comes. Never dare utter from your mouth again that my mother was a whore."
V didn't bicker or counter William's harsh words and just said, "...Never tell anyone about our meeting here… if you still want to live that is."
After he finished, he vanished into thin air like he was never there.
William still wore a strong face for three minutes straight and sighed in relief.
He fell on his butt and muttered under his breath, "What on earth just happened?"
"Hey, you!" A man with uncombed hair and yellow teeth in dirty clothes was standing at the other end of the alley in front of other similar individuals and called out.
William looked at them with a dumbfounded look on his face and pointed to himself.
"Yeah you, kid! Get the hell outta here, you're on our turf!"
William quickly bounced on his two feet and ran away.
…
In a dark area, V stared at his hand suspiciously. He removed his glove on the hand he used to strangle William and raised the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing under the cloak.
On his wrists, there were two red handprints on his upper forearm. The flesh under the handprints squished in. William had squeezed V's hand in.
"He is truly the Viscount's son," V said and in under a second, the injury healed up like it was never there before.