Chapter 174: Action Plan
Mirella took the group to a smaller room beside the training courtyard. It was not an elegant room. It was functional, with a rectangular table in the center, a map pinned to the wall, enough chairs for almost everyone, and a blackboard with names, routes, and times written in pale chalk. There was also a simple model of Bramford, made from wooden pieces, showing the port, the warehouse district, the commercial street, the administrative headquarters, and a more distant neighborhood near the cliffs. Victor looked at it and already understood that the mission was not just going in, hitting someone, and leaving.
The twins sat together, one resting her feet on the other’s chair until Mirella looked at them. Nera remained standing, hugging her own scythe, still chewing the candy she had recovered. Dahlia sat near the end of the table and began organizing vials by color, as if that were more important than the meeting. Yvonne leaned against the wall, silent, her sword resting beside her body. Victor pulled out a chair, sat down without hurry, and realized Mirella was watching where each person chose to stay. She did not comment, only went to the map.
"Let us be objective," Mirella said. "Bramford is a small port city, but it has a lot of movement in and out. Three main docks, five registered warehouses, at least eight unofficial warehouses, and a loading zone that operates at night without royal supervision. Over the last two months, shipments of preserved blood have disappeared, three inspectors were replaced without proper record, two ships changed routes after docking, and four bodies appeared drained in different alleys. The local authority declared them isolated attacks, but the patterns do not match."
Victor rested his elbow on the table.
"Ghideon."
"Possible Ghideon," Mirella corrected. "We are not going in assuming he is there until we have confirmation. He falsifies identity, manipulates blood shadows, and usually plants corpses to push investigators in the wrong direction. If he is in Bramford, he will not appear with his own face, he will not use his own name, and he has probably already placed at least two layers of distraction before anyone noticed."
Liora raised her hand.
"So we arrest everyone suspicious."
Liria agreed.
"And if they are not suspicious, we ask questions until they become suspicious."
Mirella looked at the two of them without changing her expression.
"That is why I am explaining slowly."
Nera snorted a laugh.
Dahlia, without looking up, said:
"If you arrest too many people, I will need to carry extra sedatives."
"You already carry too many sedatives," Yvonne said from the wall.
"Because you all get hurt too much."
Mirella tapped two fingers on the table, and everyone stopped talking. She did not need to raise her voice. Victor noticed that. The group was noisy, clearly problematic, but they obeyed when she cut the conversation.
"The mission has four objectives," Mirella continued. "First, confirm whether Ghideon DuskBlood is operating in Bramford. Second, discover who gave him local cover, whether at the port, in the administration, or among lesser families. Third, recover cargo records and any diverted artifact or preserved blood. Fourth, arrest the main people involved whenever possible. Execution only with field authorization or in case of direct threat."
The twins exchanged a look.
Mirella pointed at them before they could say anything.
"Arrest. I am looking at you two because I know you will pretend you did not hear it."
Liora placed a hand over her chest.
"Captain, that wounds my honor."
"You do not have any."
Liria smiled.
"I have hers stored somewhere."
"And you do not have any either," Mirella said. "We are arresting. If I find an unnecessary opened corpse, you two will be filling out reports until next winter."
The two made faces at the same time, as if paperwork were a worse punishment than amputation.
Victor liked them a little.
Mirella turned the board and showed another list. There were two names at the top: Squad Seven and Squad Six. Under Six were Natasha and Alexa, along with other smaller names Victor did not know yet.
"Squad Six enters as tracking support, external control, and identity verification. Natasha will take over the security line around the city. She is good at preventing escape when she decides to close an area. Alexa will work with moving information, mainly checking faces, records, and inconsistencies. If Ghideon is using falsification, Alexa is one of the best at noticing small flaws."
Victor looked at Natasha’s name.
"She is going to love knowing I am part of the mess."
"She already knows," Mirella said.
"And still accepted the mission?"
"She did not have much choice."
"That explains it."
Mirella turned to him.
"Now you."
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Me?"
"What are you good at?"
The room became quieter. The twins looked at him with immediate interest. Nera stopped chewing. Dahlia raised her eyes from the vials. Even Yvonne looked with more attention.
Victor shrugged.
"Battle."
Mirella waited.
Victor raised his right hand. A white flame appeared over his palm, small and clean. Then he closed his fingers and let the flame die, replacing it with a layer of Black Ice that climbed his wrist in thin plates. Finally, sparks of Black Lightning crackled between his fingers, short, aggressive, illuminating his face for an instant.
"White Fire, Black Ice, and Black Lightning. If it is for fighting, I am the best one here."
Liora smiled.
"Arrogant."
Liria completed:
"But handsome."
Nera tightened her grip on the scythe.
"I want to test it."
"Later," Mirella said, without taking her eyes off Victor. "Continue."
Victor extinguished the sparks.
"I can also disappear from almost anyone’s radar if I want. Presence, scent, blood flow, intent. I am not perfect at it, but it works well enough to get close to people who think they are safe."
Mirella was silent for a few seconds. She did not look impressed in an ordinary way. She seemed to be fitting pieces together. She looked at the map, then at Nera, then at Victor.
"You will go with Nera."
Nera smiled immediately.
"I like it."
Victor looked at the little girl with the giant scythe.
"Should I be worried?"
"Yes," everyone in the room said, except Nera.
Mirella ignored it.
"Nera has a better sense of smell than most trackers and can detect lies by the rhythm of blood, as long as she is close enough. The problem is that she loses patience quickly. You can erase your presence and enter places where she would draw attention. She can feel what you might not see. You two will operate in the unofficial warehouses and the night market."
Nera tapped the tip of the scythe on the floor.
"And if someone runs?"
"You arrest them."
"And if they run very fast?"
"You break their legs and arrest them."
Nera nodded, satisfied.
"That I can do."
Victor looked at Mirella.
"You really put the violent child with me."
"Nera is not a child."
"She looks like one."
Nera showed her teeth.
"Ask my age."
"No."
She seemed disappointed.
Mirella continued the distribution.
"Liora and Liria stay together, as always. You enter through the main pier and the registered warehouses. I want names, loading times, altered records, and any port official receiving too much money. I do not want corpses, I do not want fire, and I do not want you two stealing merchandise as ’personal evidence.’"
Liora opened her mouth.
"Not even if it is small?"
"No."
Liria raised a finger.
"And if it is a criminal jewel?"
"Also no."
"Captain, you limit our creativity."
"That is my function."
The twins sighed together, but accepted.
"Dahlia and Yvonne," Mirella continued. "You take the administrative and medical side. Dahlia, I want analysis of the drained bodies, if they still exist, and any preserved blood sample the local authority has kept. Yvonne, you stay with her and observe who tries to prevent access. If anyone appears with a false order, false seal, or local authority trying to block us, you hold them until I arrive."
Yvonne nodded only once.
Dahlia smiled.
"Can I open corpses?"
"If they are corpses."
"And if they are still half alive?"
Mirella looked at her.
"Dahlia."
"I am asking for precision."
"If they are alive, you stabilize them, interrogate after, and only open them if they die."
"Understood."
Victor looked at Dahlia.
"Is she really a healer?"
Yvonne answered:
"When she wants to be."
Dahlia seemed satisfied with the description.
Mirella pointed to her own name on the board.
"I stay alone. I will circulate between the groups, speak with the local authority, test the cooperation of the port captain, and coordinate with Natasha. If Ghideon appears or if any group finds a real sign of him, do not face him alone. Call reinforcements."
Victor raised his hand.
Mirella looked at him.
"No."
"I did not even speak."
"You were going to ask if you could face him alone."
Victor lowered his hand.
"Maybe."
"You cannot."
"And if he attacks me?"
"You survive, arrest him, or hold him until I arrive."
"That is much less fun."
"Missions are not made to entertain you."
The twins laughed. Nera muttered that this explained why adults were boring. Dahlia stored a purple vial in her bag without explaining the reason. Yvonne continued watching Victor as if measuring where he would break first if something went wrong.
Mirella returned to the map of Bramford and marked four points with small red pins.
"These are the locations with confirmed irregularity. The old pier warehouse, the records house, the night merchants’ street, and an abandoned chapel near the cliff. The chapel does not appear in the official reports, but Alexa found mention of it in three intercepted letters. Natasha wants to check that personally, so we do not touch it before the meeting with Squad Six."
Victor frowned.
"An abandoned chapel in a mission involving a fugitive vampire is never a good sign."
"We agree," Mirella said. "That is why no one goes there alone."
Liora raised her hand.
"And if we get lost and end up there by accident?"
"I will assume it was a lie."
Liria smiled.
"You know us well."
"Unfortunately."
Mirella picked up a stack of sheets and handed one to each of them. Victor looked at his and saw a short version of the mission: map, meeting points, retreat signals, names of local authorities, and three possible faces of Ghideon, all probably false.
"Before the meeting with Natasha, I want the roles clear," Mirella said. "Liora and Liria, social infiltration and sweep of the pier. No killing. Nera and Victor, unofficial warehouses and night market. Arrest suspects, do not play with them. Dahlia and Yvonne, bodies, medical records, and administrative containment. I handle leadership, contact with Squad Six, and pressure on local authorities."
Nera looked at Victor.
"If you interfere with my sense of smell, I will cut you."
Victor smiled.
"If you try to cut me, I will freeze your scythe."
"I cut with my teeth."
"Then I freeze your teeth."
Nera thought for a second.
"Fair."
Mirella slapped her hand on the table.
"This is exactly the kind of conversation I do not want in front of Natasha."
Victor looked at her.
"Is Natasha that serious?"
"Yes."
"Alexa?"
"Worse, because she seems less serious while noticing everything."
Victor sighed.
"Great."
Mirella picked up her cap and placed it on her head.
"Meeting with Squad Six in thirty minutes. Until then, weapons ready, cloaks ready, and no internal fighting."
The twins looked at each other.
Nera hugged the scythe.
Dahlia raised a vial.
Yvonne simply pushed away from the wall.
Mirella looked at all of them and completed:
"And, repeating for the last time: we want to arrest. Not kill. If anyone kills a useful target because they got excited, I will write the report myself using the responsible party’s blood as ink."
The room went quiet for two seconds.
Victor smiled.
"Now you sound like a captain."
Mirella looked at him.
"And you sound like someone who will test my patience."
"Probably."
"Then try to be useful while doing it."
Victor folded the mission sheet and put it in his pocket.
"That I can do."
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