*ONE MONTH AGO*
Sophia ran towards and opened the door for Jade who walked into the house with another agent of Public Safety and Demon Control agency next to her. The agent had green hair and a lime green iris. Her skin was tanned and she was just an inch or two below six feet tall.
"I couldn't quite get what you were saying but came as first as I could," said the director of the Public Safety and Demon Control agency.
"I didn't know what else to do," Sof said. "Hunter's phone wasn't going through and I couldn't think of anyone else to call! I remembered you told me to call whenever --"
"Sophia," Jade placed her hand on each one of the blue-skinned girl's shoulders. "What happened?" She asked.
"It's Chelsea ... One minute we're making a dish to welcome Hunter back, the next, she's gone," said Sophia.
"What do you mean 'gone'?"
"She just disappeared ... She said she 'couldn't feel him anymore' and also mentioned your name ... I believe."
"And you said you couldn't get a hold of Hunter?" Jade asked.
"Are the two related in any way?" Sophia asked.
Jade sighs. "Their souls are linked."
"How come?"
"That's not the question you should be asking," said Jade as she took out her phone and began dialing Leah's number. "Try calling him again."
Sophia raced towards one of the other rooms to grab her phone while Jade raised hers to her ear as Leah picked up the phone.
"Leah, are you still at the HQ?" Jade asked.
"Yes," Leah replied.
"Good. Check if there's any report from any mystical organizations about an attack in or around River Pot," the director ordered. She turned to see Kara holding up her phone, showing a news article headline; "Black cloud covers the sky River Pot," it says.
"Never mind," Jade said before cutting the call. She turned towards the living room. "Sophia?" She called.
The redhead rushed towards the vampire shaking her head. "I still can't reach him," she said.
"Fuck!" Jade cussed. "Kara, open a portal to River Pot."
The green-haired woman nodded before punching the air and creating a portal to River Pot in front of the trio.
"I want to come along too," said Sophia as she turned her blue skin pale. Jade stared at her for a second or two before nodding agreeably.
They jumped into the portal and found themselves on the beach with several frantic River Pot citizens in front of them pointing at the black cloud that was beginning to cloud the entire sky while some took out their phones to record the event.
Jade sniffed. "That's not a cloud," she said. "It's smoke. Kara ..."
"Hold onto me," The lime green-eyed woman said anticipating what the director was going to say. The redhead and the dark brown-eyed woman grabbed the green-haired agent's arm and she instantly ports them to the smoke.
"Oh my God!" Sophia exclaimed upon seeing the scene. She placed her hand over her mouth as she took everything. It was a graveyard; heads were separated from necks, limbs were separated from bodies, and the air was thick with the stench of blood.
Some men wearing impermeable suits covering their entire bodies moved around the scene holding a device with a monopod arm. Every now and then, the device's screen would turn green and it would beep, the men would then stop and call over some others to search the place.
"What's happening?" Sophia asked.
"These men are part of the mystical organization called the Laundry. They're cleaning up any mystical object or person around before allowing non-mystic authorities to take over," Kara explained.
"This is ... Is this where Hunter was?"
"Pull yourself together," said Jade.
"You brought a civilian here?" A voice said from behind. They turned to see Olivia with her usual attire of a small framed pair of glasses and a topcoat over her clothes.
"Olivia."
"Jade." Olivia turned to Kara who had her hands behind her back. "Get her out of here." She said, her gaze shifting towards Sophia.
"She's not a civilian, she's a student at the Metropolitan School of Mysticism," said Jade.
"She still can't be here. I want her at least two hundred meters away from here."
Jade gives Kara a small nod. The latter took the redhead and ported her away from the scene.
Jade turns to the director of the Bureau. "What happened here?" She asked.
"Not 'what', 'who'!" said a third voice from behind them; it was Camille, and the red-eyed woman rushed to the vampire's side. "'Who' ... happened here? That doesn't make a ton of sense," she disagreed with herself.
"Camille ..."
"My bad," she sighed. "We can't say for sure until we've gone through all the evidence available but at first glance, this looks like the work of someone my agents call 'The Collector'."
Jade frowns. "Is this a joke to you?"
"No," said Camille, her tone sounding the most serious it has since she joined the other directors.
"Then can you at least talk like you're not enjoying everything that's happened here?"
"I don't enjoy this," the red-eyed woman said defensively. "I just thought some lightheartedness --"
Jade turns away from Camille. "Where's Hunter?" She asked.
"He was found impaled over there," Olivia pointed. "He had a pulse but ... It's not looking good," she said.
"Where is he? I know someone who could patch him up real quick," said Jade.
"There's no need, I'll handle things from here. Besides, Hunter is no longer part of your agency," Olivia replied. "The Public Safety and Demon Control agency has no jurisdiction here, I'll appreciate it if you'd leave," she added.
"I had assumed the person responsible was a demon? I think I have plenty right over this case," Jade pointed out.
"I'm putting the Laundry in charge," Olivia stated.
"You can't do that," Jade argued.
"I can and I have," the director of the Bureau stated. "Come with me Camille," she added, putting her hand over Camille's shoulders and leading her away from the vampire.
...
"She's putting the Laundry in charge of a case that has to do with public safety and demon control?" Kara frowned.
"She's up to something, I can tell," Jade said. "I wouldn't be surprised if all this was plotted by her," she added.
"So what now?" Sophia asked.
"Now, we take you back home where I know you're safe," said Jade.
"You're kidding, right?!" Sophia said but Jade's expression was indifferent. "You're really going to exclude me from this? Hunter is my friend too you know," she stated.
Jade turns to Kara. "Take her back home."
Sophia took a step back but Kara moved swiftly and held her wrist. "Wait!" She shouted but the Public Safety and Demon Control agent wouldn't listen, porting her back to the room she first saw her.
"Please ..." Sophia cried. "I just want to know where my best friend is ..."
Kara stopped before moving closer to Sophia. "Look, I know we don't know each other but I can tell you care so much about Hunter. I promise to give this my all and come get you the moment we find him," She promised.
But that wasn't enough for the redhead. She made it her mission to find out what happened to Hunter and ended up learning about Olivia and her relationship with a family called "The Archaeons."
She couldn't learn as much about the family as she did Olivia so the blue-skinned girl decided to break into a building of theirs in the Met. There, she learned nothing new about the family but entered the Archaeons' radar when a security camera recorded her going into one of the rooms.
"Uncle, We have the identity of the person who broke into our building; she's a student at the Metropolitan School of Mysticism," Kilian stated.
"You said she didn't take anything, right?" Karl asked.
"Yes."
"Then there's no need to make a big issue of this. Report to the school's management and have her reprimanded."
"There's something you must know first," Kilian started. "I went through the security footage and found that she entered room 12."
Karl stopped what he was doing and turned to his nephew. "So she's dead?" He asked.
"No, she left the building unscathed."
Karl's eyes widen. 'Not even a Drumalak can survive in that room. If she survived that much power ...'
.
.
.
*PRESENT DAY*
•Leinheim
"Sof ... Are you going to sleep all day?"
Sophia quickly sat up to look at the speaker. "Hunter? H- How are you here?" She asked.
"You know how," he replied before lying next to her on the bed.
"This is all in my head, isn't it?"
"Perhaps."
"Are you --" she stuttered. "The ugly Archaeon told me you succumbed to your injuries. That's a lie, right?" She asked.
"What do you think?"
"The Hunter I know wouldn't go down easily."
"And the Sophia I know wouldn't accept being in captivity."
"I tried to fight back, you saw what happened --"
"You call that fighting back?" A third voice interrupted.
Sophia turned quickly to face the speaker, her eyes widening when she saw the source; a tall slender young woman with short shaggy black hair parted down the middle. She had deeply intimidating gray eyes and freckles on her cheeks. Her hair was kept in a low ponytail with a brown tie.
"Zo -- Zoe? Is this -- Am I --"
"Don't even finish that sentence," Zoe frowned.
"I'm so sorry for what happened to you," Sophia cried. "I wish --"
"Enough!" Zoe dismissed. "You can tell me whatever when you stop being the damsel in distress every single time. Are you going to sit and wait for Hunter to come and save you again or are you going to get yourself out of the mess you got yourself into?" She asked.
"I'll ... I'll --"
"Speak up!"
"I want to get out of here ..." She turned to Hunter. "I know you're alive and well and I want to see you again," She said causing the tell teal green-eyed boy to smile.
"Let's get rid of this," Hunter said breaking the collar around her neck and throwing it away.
Zoe turns to the door and points her palms at it. She shoots out a ray of electricity from her hands that blasts the door away. A loud siren fills the air alarming the guards of the explosion.
Sophia looked surprised while Zoe raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you waiting for?"
The stone blue-skinned girl jumped out of bed and began racing through the maze-like structure in search of a door. She could hear several footsteps closing in on her but was yet to find an exit. "I can't -- There's no way out," she conceded.
"What? You're giving up because of a minor setback?" Zoe asked. "It's as if you learned nothing from me."
"I didn't!" Sophia yelled. "I didn't learn anything from both of you," she cried. "All I -- All I know how to do is get myself and those around me in trouble ... Time and time again."
Hunter placed his hand on her shoulder. "Sof ... Remember what I told you the other day when you couldn't form a domain?"
Sophia sniffed. "A little."
"I meant every word. I'd love to help you, I really would ... but I can't. This time, it's up to you to find a way out of here and come to me ..."
"The footsteps are coming from that direction," Zoe pointed. "If I was to make a guess I'd say there's an exit there," she said.
"There are so many, I can't beat them all," Sophia admitted.
"You're a smart girl," said Zoe. "You'd figure something out."
...
The guards marched in large numbers, looking side to side in search of the runaway captive when the ground suddenly glowed as a large circle covered the entire place. The head of the guards swiftly raised his hand, signaling his men to stop. "She's opening a domain, fall back," he ordered.
The guards began retreating, looking to get out of the subject's domain but it looked unending. Since none of them were powerful mystics, they relied on the fact that the building negated magic and were ill-prepared for a situation where someone bypassed the magic negation. They couldn't believe someone could create such a domain inside the building and knew they should not be in that person's domain.
Sophia couldn't believe her luck. Some days earlier, she couldn't feel any magic but all of a sudden, she could feel magical energy everywhere around her.
The stone blue-skinned girl still couldn't do anything mystical related save for opening a domain but knew the guards would retreat because of how large her domain was. They fell back and Sofi followed closely, while making sure to stay hidden, until they led her to a staircase. Instead of going up the flight of stairs like the guards did, the red-haired girl opted to throw herself through a nearby window which thankfully was at ground level.
The stone blue-skinned girl landed on the ground and started for the road but stopped just a few steps from making it across. "My ring," she recalled. "My ring is with that bald Archaeon," she said.
"Don't be stupid," Zoe warned. "You can get that some other time."
"But what if I don't see him again?" Sophie asked.
"Who cares?" Zoe queried. "Is that ring worth more than seeing your best friend again? More than your freedom? More than your life?"
Sophia turned back and gave the building one more look before shaking her head. She ran as fast as she could with the guards racing after her.
The redhead could hear the guards chasing after her and the sound of their footsteps motivated her to run faster. She ran and ran through the thick forest and into the plain field.
"Take her down! Take her down!" The head of the guard barked. The stone blue-skinned girl was in an open space and had nowhere to hide so she had to rely on her pace and acceleration to save her.
Fast as she may be, she was no faster than a bullet, so when the guards started to shoot, one of the bullets went through the back of her leg and out through her shin, knocking her off her feet and onto the ground.
Blood didn't gush out but the wound glowed bright white and the massive energy the redhead was feeling sapped away and her consciousness slowly started to fade.
"I ... I can't ... I can't move ..." Sofi stuttered trying to drag herself to her feet but to no joy. "I can't ..."
"Shh," Hunter said softly stroking her red hair.
"You've done your best Sof, let me take over from here."
"O -- Okay."
"See you soon ... Sophia."
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