Chapter 296: A Shadow In The Night
The doors of the manor opened, and the group began to step out into the night, making their way further into the compound.
While walking with the group, Ethan moved his gaze across each of them until it settled on Bettie.
She was slightly behind the others, with worry in her eyes and a tense expression she was struggling to hide.
Ethan slowed just enough to fall in step beside her. "Is this about your family," he asked.
It was an accurate guess, Ethan surmised from her earlier reaction when he told them the league’s leader was also out of prison.
Bettie’s mood had been off ever since.
She glanced at him, caught off guard for a second, then nodded uneasily.
Learning that Lucien was out, the same man who had orchestrated her kidnapping, left her very worried.
She couldn’t help but feel that if he was moving again, it wasn’t unreasonable to think he might reach for old leverage.
For her. Or worse, her family.
Ethan watched her for a moment before speaking again. "Do not worry. This whole time you’ve been here, I’ve had a summon or two watching over your home. Even now."
The tension began to ease up a little for Bettie.
"And I promise you," he added, "nothing is going to happen to your family."
Bettie exhaled, and smiled a bit. "Thank you."
Ethan smiled, gave a nod and continued on ahead.
She looked at him a second longer than necessary, then quickly looked away, with her cheeks going red.
Ahead of them, the others had begun grouping toward the vehicles.
Percival got into the driver’s seat, while Wilson took the passenger side. In the back, Aliyah settled in beside Ishtar.
Ethan walked around to the rear of the vehicle, stopping just beside Ishtar’s window as it lowered.
"Be careful," he said.
Ishtar met his gaze calmly, then gave a nod.
Another vehicle followed. Eduardo at the wheel, Hayley by the side, with Valerie and Bettie taking the back.
Ethan then walked toward Isabella who lingered for a second.
Without a word, his hand settled at her waist, pulling her in just slightly. She responded easily, sliding her arms around his neck.
"This one should be easy for you Miss Grand Caster." He joked, with a smile on his face.
Bella let out a soft chuckle and said afterwards, "I’ll see you soon"
He nodded, then she leaned in and gave him a brief kiss.
After Bella pulled away, she let the bracelet slip loose from her wrist, and immediately, a wave darkness surged from her.
It poured over her form, wrapping, consuming; until her entire figure blurred beneath it.
For a second, it felt as though she wasn’t fully there anymore.
Ethan watched her fly upwards and disappear into the night sky.
Ethan glanced back briefly at the house, then raised his hand towards the communication pods in his ears. "Lucy, we’ll be counting on you"
"I’m fully locked in," Lucy replied from the dining room, where she held an ArcTablet in hand. It had been specially configured by the developers at the Arc Company to track the Arcphones of targets outside Grayfort City.
Madam Francesca, dropped a little plate of pastries beside Lucy, who turned up and exchanged a smile with her.
Ethan then launched upwards into the night.
——
On a different part of the city...
High above the streets, on the edge of a darkened building, A figure stood watching.
He had black hair and wore a Half-mask. This was Joe, the hitman summon.
His gaze remained fixed downward, watching from afar through the window of a modest flat, where a scene played out; a man bent slightly at a sink, gently guiding a small boy’s hands under running water.
The child giggled, splashing a bit too much water as he tried to follow along.
This was Bettie’s Family.
Besides joe, was Finn the Shot
The blonde-haired boy summon, completely incapable of staying still.
He was crouched near the ledge, completely distracted, trying to trap a glowing firefly between his fingers.
"Come here... come here..." he whispered, missing it by inches again and again.
The firefly drifted lazily away.
Finn leaned further and further
"Boy." Joe’s cold voice cut in.
Finn eyes widened as his body froze, then slowly turned to the hitman.
Joe hadn’t even looked at him when he added, "Behave."
Instantly, Finn straightened up and comported himself. "Y-Yes, Mr. Joe!"
——
Isabella hovered high above the city, several meters out from the surrounding buildings.
And below her, was the Quin family estate. It one of the seven vampire families.
She watched from such a high angle that even if you looked straight at her, you would see nothing but darkness, her shadowed form blending seamlessly with the night.
Then she closed her eyes and focused her awareness into every shadow below. Every patch of darkness, every dim corner, and every space untouched by light became hers to observe from.
Her perception branched and mapped through every shadow inside the Quinn estate, in search of the most powerful presence; which in this case would be the family leader.
She sorted them instantly and found him.
As soon that happened, Isabella dropped from the air without a sound. Midway down, her body dissolved into shadows before it touched the ground.
What fell wasn’t a solid person anymore, but a darkness that spread along the nearest shadows, merging seamlessly with them before flowing forward into the estate, through cracks, beneath doors, and along walls.
This method of movement, made her almost impossible to detect.
Inside a room where The Quinn family head lay asleep...
The shadow beneath very sheets he lay on moved subtly at first, then suddenly, a pool of darkness formed unnaturally, pulling him in.
The man’s eyes opened with terror, but it was too late as tentacles of darkness shot upward from the pool, wrapping around his limbs, his torso, his throat. One forced into his mouth before he could scream, choking the sound out.
Then he was dragged down into it, consumed as the darkness folded in on itself.
A moment later, the room was still again, leaving no trace behind.
—
