Emily's gaze remained transfixed on the message suspended in front of her, the words pulsing with an otherworldly light.
[A rogue member of your Estuary has learned a new skill: Shadow blink]
[A rogue member of your Estuary has learned a new skill: Shadow Travel]
How could this be? Dire fang managed to acquire such ability?
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the squealing and hum of a hover engine. Emily's head snapped up just in time to see a sleek, silver hoverbike come to a stop mere inches from her body. The driver, stunning blonde woman, her hair cascading down her shoulders, hopped off the bike and removed her helmet, revealing a mischievous grin.
"You seem to have a death wish, sweetheart," the woman said, her voice beautiful and confident. "What's the hurry? Don't you know it's dangerous to walk into traffic?"
Emily felt a flush rise to her cheeks as she stammered out an explanation. "I-I wasn't paying attention. I just received some unexpected news and..."
The woman chuckled, cutting her off. "No worries. My apologies for almost running you over. I'm Silver. And you are...?"
Emily hesitated for a moment before responding, feeling a strange sense of unease in Silver's presence. "I'm Emily," she replied softly.
Silver's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Well, Emily, since you're not hurt, how about you come with me? My place is just around the corner. We can grab a drink and talk about your lucky escape."
Emily hesitated, unsure if she should trust this stranger. But there was something about Silver that drew her in. "Okay," she agreed finally, stepping onto the back of Silver's hoverbike.
Emily was trying to get a look at Silver but with the other's face looking at the road ahead it was hard to make out anything but her eyes from the rear view mirror. Still, she did notice a few things. For one, the hoverbike they were in seemed to be an expensive nice one. The quality of the seats, the space, and the brand on the wheel indicated that it was expensive, probably even an import.
Then, there was the person herself, from the side she could make out defined tricep muscles sticking out from a short sleeve shirt. She wasn't exactly a large person, seemingly a few inches over Emily, but there was hardly any fat showing on her arm.
A short while later, the hoverbike stopped before a very nice looking hotel that was located at the far end of Cipen. It was one of the New Tylon's posher areas.
Now that she got a closer look at Silver, she was wondering where she had seen this person before. The girl had a familiar face but Emily just couldn't quite pinpoint where she had seen her before.
Welcome back, Mrs. Silver. Would you like us to help with anything in your room?" A female voice greeted her with respect.
'Holy sh*t, that's it!!! She's Shifting Silver! What is one of the top Gifted doing in our country! What is she doing in a sh*thole like New Tylon?!' Emily, being the A.A.S Gifted fighter fanatic that she was, instantly recognised her after hearing the last name.
"That's strange why didn't I notice this earlier?"
Emily had to stop herself from hyperventilating due to excitement. Her inner fan girl needed to be contained.
The receptionist was baffled at the disheveled sight of Emily, but didn't say anything as the teenager followed the VVIP to the elevator. Silver hadn't lied about her room being more than one person realistically needed, however she had failed to mention one very important detail.
SHE was staying in the PENTHOUSE AT THE TOP FLOOR!
The room alone was around five times the size of the apartment where Emily lived with her mother and sister. Through the glass windows one would be able to see the entire town of New Tylon. This is exactly the type of life Emily had dreamt about when wishing to become a Gifted one day.
Alas, she couldn't really enjoy it right now.
Leaving behind a still baffled teenager, Silver had gone to one of the connecting rooms and returned with a new shirt on. The Gifted superstar then threw over a pair of briefs, socks, trousers, as well as a jacket.
"This should let you go around, If you go down the hall, the showers are to the right. There's a toothbrush and everything in each room.
'It's late and I have an early start tomorrow. Just keep the clothes, there's no need to return them. Leave whenever you wish, though don't be surprised if I'm already gone by the time you wake up." Silver told her. "Feel free to take a bite out of whatever's in the fridge."
Turning around, the Gifted superstar was ready to close the door to her room, but stopped a few seconds later and opened it again.
Look, I know times are tough in the world at the moment, but if you don't do something about it, then you might be stuck in the situation forever. The biggest influence on your life is you. Don't wait for something to happen, change and make it happen." Silver made a fist and swung it out.
Steaks, chicken, lamb among other animal meat and from the looks of it, all high-quality products. Saliva immediately started to dribble out from her mouth. She was sure that just half a pound of any of that stuff would cost more than the rent for their small apartment.
'This is what you would expect from a top class Gifted.' Emily reached out ready to grab the raw steaks.
********
Early in the morning, Silver's alarm woke her up at 6:30 AM. As she went out, she was surprised to see that the kid she had picked up earlier was nowhere to be seen. She had expected to find her in one of the rooms, still sleeping soundly, but it seemed as if she might have disappeared after she had gone off to sleep.
However, Silver's conscience was appeased. She had done a good deed and could only wish the girl the best from now on. She headed to the fridge to look for a snack, though when she opened it her jaw nearly dropped.
'What the hell?! I just had it filled yesterday! Did that frigging kid eat all of it? … no, that should be impossible. There was enough in there to last me a week. Did she steal some of it, to try and make cash or something? Argh, that doesn't matter, what am I supposed to eat now?!'
*******
A little earlier, both S.I.S agents had returned to the police station. They had done so to make a report on the case, and they wanted to confirm something. One of the leaves they had picked up still had the black blood of the shadow Werewolf.
Milenna wanted to make sure that the blood matched up with Dire fang. This was her hunch and the others as well. After making a report, the two of them left the room, still furious about failing to arrest that dangerous Supernatural. They had tried their best to find him but it was as if he had disappeared somewhere.
They were still in the police station, when another officer came up to them, delivering some good news.
"We found someone who claims to know Alexander Vanhell." The young officer Roo Game reported. "Since Alexander Vanhell is a dropout it was hard to find anyone who knew the guy, but unexpectedly one of the suspects we brought in claimed he had seen him elsewhere!
"Apparently, the last time he saw him was at one of these underground fights. According to the guy, they happen quite often in this town."
A smile appeared on Milenna's face hearing this news.
"An underground fighter, huh? There should be a few people that would have seen him and know him then. Night, looks like we'll be going undercover!"
Walking away, Night noticed that Milenna walked with a limp, although the shadow werewolf went for her neck she was able to shift so the shadow werewolf bit her right ribs, she had been injured in her wolf form, and thought that a wound like that would have been healed by now.