"Jade, where the hell is Circe?" Olivia, the head of the Bureau asked.
"I just got here, can I get a cup of coffee first?" Jade said walking past the woman who was wearing a small framed pair of glasses and a topcoat.
"I heard you lost the chaos magic user," Olivia said, turning on her heels and following the brunette who walks to the mess hall.
"You came all the way to New Lanes to tell me about a rumor you heard?" Jade said still not looking back.
"My reason of concern is --"
"Hunter?" Jade said surprised before rushing to the sprite who was seated behind one of the tables with a cup of tea and a cup of coffee in front of him.
"Hey Jade, what are we doing today? I got a cup of coffee for you," he said handing the cup of coffee to the pale-skinned woman.
"Hunter Heffernan, you're here?" Olivia said surprised.
"Yes I am, was I not supposed to be here?" Hunter asks.
"Does this settle your concerns, Olivia?" Jade said raising an eyebrow.
"Don't you play this game with me, Jade, I know you were prepping the agency's special ops team," the dark blonde-haired woman said.
Jade sighs, "Yes I did but that was because I thought Hunter here was missing," the vampire explained.
"And the HSS spies, any truth in that?"
"Yes, but you already know that, don't you?"
Olivia doesn't respond. "Those spies have to be brought in before they flee the country," said the dark blonde-haired woman. "They are after you, correct?" She asked Hunter who nods in response.
"Oh come on," Jade moved to argue but the head of the Bureau shuts her with a raised hand. "I will be organizing a team to bring them in. If you care about the boy you'd be the first to sign up," the dark blonde-haired woman stated.
"What are you planning?" The vampire asked.
"Not me," she shook her head, "Tacticus here would be in charge," Olivia said pointing to a man standing next to her that hadn't been there a minute ago.
"Hello Jade," he waved at the vampire who frowns and turns to the dark blonde-haired woman. "Where the hell did this guy come from?"
"For the love of Mike, Jade," Olivia exasperated. "This will all go smoothly if you obey the chain of command," she stated.
"You're kidding."
"No. He's in charge of the team."
.
.
.
That night, the team met at the Public Safety and Demon Control building to discuss their plan.
Hunter scanned the room to see all those present; there were three people he didn't recognize, Tacticus, Leah, Jade, Sophia, and Zoe.
'Looks about right,' he thought. 'Wait ...'
"What are you two doing here?" He asked Sophia and Zoe.
"Well, I heard the guy with the thick eyebrows telling Mr. Daniel you won't be at school tomorrow because of some spies you're trying to catch and I want to help," Zoe stated.
"And I thought you might need additional help," Sophia chipped.
Hunter sighs, "I --" he pauses and a smile appears on his face, "thank you guys, for helping out," he said.
"Enough of that," Tacticus shouted at the trio, "gather around, here's the plan ..."
***
"This might be the worst thing I've ever been a part of," Jade said looking down at the road from the top of a very tall building.
"Tell me about it," Hunter agreed, his voice coming through the comms.
"We're going out now," Sophia said, interlocking her hands with Zoe's. The fiend had a baseball cap and a facemask on. The two walk out of the Met School of Mysticism gate and into a cab.
Hunter and Leah came out next, the former also wearing a baseball cap and a facemask. The duo walks into another cab.
That was it, that was the plan. According to Tacticus, Hunter, and Zoe were of the same height and have almost similar facial shape, and could pass as the other with the right amount of disguise. Since Elise was a hybrid and René was a witch, their abilities complement each other. So, his plan was to separate the spies by making them unsure which of the two is the real Hunter, isolating them, and then capturing them.
The car Hunter and Leah was in drove towards the building Jade was in, the less inhabited part of the city.
Leah placed her hand over her head. "Are you alright?" Hunter asked.
"yeah ..." she replied. "Just feeling a bit lightheaded," she stated.
Over two hours later, with the plan producing no result on Jade's side, the vampire decided to check on the other group: Zoe and Sophia. "How are things on your side?" She asked.
"Boring. Nothing's happened yet. You?" Zoe asked.
"Same issue," Jade replied looking down to the road and watching as the cab carrying Hunter and Leah pass for what was the umpteenth time. The vampire squints her eyes, "something's wrong," she muttered to herself. "Have you noticed Hunter and Leah haven't said anything in the past hour or so?" said Jade.
"You want me to try his number?" Sophia asked.
"Wait ... Isn't Tacticus and his men supposed to be watching you?! Where the hell are they?" Jade asked.
"I don't know, they haven't said anything either. You think something's wrong?" Sophia asked.
"I think ... Where are you two?" Jade asked.
Sophia turned to Zoe who was seated next to her in the cab. "Where are we?" She asked the fiend who frowns. "How the hell would I know that?"
"Um sir, where are we?" Sophia asked the driver who doesn't respond. "I have no idea," Sophia said to Jade through the comms.
"You two get out of that car now!" Jade instructed but hears a loud explosion from the other side. "Hello!? Zoe? Sophia?" Jade said but gets no reply. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." The vampire looks over the top again and sees an irregularly shaped ice aiming towards her face.
Swiftly, the vampire spins and avoid the projectile.
From the other side of the roof, a person with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a broad-brimmed hat and an overcoat sneaks up on the vampire. He had two tentacle-like water arms around his hands.
Despite his stealthiness, Jade picked up the sound of his footsteps and quickly turned around.
"Did you miss me, Jade?"
"Aeneas!"
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