The cry echoed throughout the hallway. It was followed up by an abrupt silence which honestly was much more frightening to Simon and Helen.
"Oh shit, he got fodderized!" Helen hugged herself, stepping back from the door.
"That means whoever was behind that office must be a boss unit! Or at least mini boss class level."
Simon just leaned against the door, contemplating booking it right here and now, his eyes shifting back down the stairs as he wondered how fast he could make it if he just jumped.
However, both of their thoughts were dashed away as suddenly the door to the office opened up, revealing Franklin and his men to be perfectly fine.
In fact, they seemed more than fine; all of them were smiling, dusting their suits off as they moved aside for…
A pale, petite brown haired girl in a crimson red and black gothic princess-like outfit with frills on their skirt and a ponytail styled up with her braid held together by a butterfly pin.
"Now then, go back to your families and tell them that I said no to their deals. We can't exactly go back to what we promised now can we?"
"Yes, we can't." Franklin's voice was so stable, so nonchalant. There was no air of regret or even sarcasm in it.
"Good, then off you go now. Have a safe trip~"
Franklin nodded along and began to walk away, headed towards the hallway, not even looking back or acknowledging the guards around them at all.
The petite lady laughed haughtily, flipping her ponytail. "Ah, such simple creatures."
She then returned to her office without a second notice.
Helen's eyes went wide before her mouth opened up in excitement. "Vampire! She's a vampire! Ahhhh."
Simon's face scrunched up in confusion for a little. Vampires? Well, he sort of heard of them, bloodsuckers of the night that drained one's energy.
"Why do you think she's a vampire?"
"Because she's wearing gothic, she's petite and pale, and of course, we just saw those other guys walk out of there without a care in the world. They either become her thralls or were just hypnotized."
"Vampires can hypnotize people?" He had never heard of them doing that at all, it's mostly just the life draining bit that he knew.
"Oh yea,h totally, which probably means I'm going to have to grant you resistance later… but for now, we have to get to the bottom of her power!"
"Wai,t why? We came here to figure out what and where our money was going exactly, unless a vampire can help out, I don't see why we don't just leave."
Simon crouched down again. He was being practical. He did not really want to possibly get into a fight in a place like this.
"Well, because by looking at her right now? I can tell that she holds some of the power I seek. The first of the Sephira heading upwards, Malkuth! The Kingdom!"
She posed over dramatically as Simon just stared at her with dead eyes. "So she's connected to it?"
Helen nodded happily. "And we're going have to figure out why. Which means we're going to have to go in and investigate it right here and now and also fight her maybe- well I'll fight her, you go ahead and do your stealth mission thing."
"Wait no no, don't go off running by yourself now. I think the best course of action is to head back and think of a plan to do this. I'll have to get some more tools as well, maybe try and investigate more into whatever happened here."
"Whaaaat no, that's so boring though, prep work? Booo. Come on, this is a lot more fun."
Simon raised an eyebrow. "What is? Rushing in haphazardly into a possibly fight where your enemy has the home advantage."
Helen just stared at Simon back with a confused look on her face. "Well… yeah."
The both of them shared this look of bemused confusion with each other as a layer of awkward silence nestled between the both of them.
However, neither of them would get to say anything else as a cold chill washed over their backs.
Instantly, they checked the window of the door, looking out as they saw the petite lady from before walking out of her office and directly towards them.
Simon freaked out faster, grabbing Helen into a fireman's carry as he raced to the bottom of the stairs.
He gently closed the door behind them and hid behind one of the many pieces of machinery by the lobby.
Helen was about to say something, but Simon quickly covered her mouth with his gloved hands, shushing her as he peeked around the corner.
For a few moments, only silence existed in the background which was occasionally interrupted by a mechanical whir or a pistol releasing gas.
Simon sighed silently in relief. He raised the mirror he had a while ago, checking the surroundings to make sure there was no sign of that lady.
When he found nothing, he finally exhaled and stood up, holding Helen by her hand. "Alright, we're leaving."
"Oh, come on! I want to face the gothic Lolita vampire lady! She seemed like someone really interesting to talk to. And you can do stuff like search her office for records and like figure out where the artifact is while I hold her off."
"Or, we could investigate it later when we're better prepared and don't have several disadvantages. I'd rather not be at the mercy of somebody who could hypnotize others."
"Or~"
A familiar voice echoed throughout the lobby. It was one that caused both Simon and Helen to stare at each other for a few moments before turning their heads to look at the source.
"I could simply ask you what exactly you both are talking about~"
It was the petite lady from before, smiling at both of them by the emergency exit.
"Wait, but… you weren't-"
Helen's eyes widened as a slow realization crept over her.
"…Oh yeah… vampires don't appear in mirrors."