Chapter 03: Pictures

In the blanket of silence, Athena felt her throat constricting as she heard those words.

She had guessed that the Beast Lord and Alpha of the Southern Shifters Faction wouldn't request a hunter to play a small game. He has a plan that has a high risk to go with, and a simple human hunter was a toy perfect to play the role of a target.

If the Beast Lord wanted to kill a Master whether they were an Alpha or Master Vampire, her life was a small price to pay in order to get their initial goal.

However, she was curious why Alexander would want to kill a master? Wouldn't this movement cause a great rift between his kind?

Suddenly, Athena had the urge not to dabble on this matter. Being curious and knowing too much would mean unnecessary trouble.

"I can. But I won't do that." Athena said, "Whatever trouble you and your kind are trying to create. I don't want to be involved in it. A simple human hunter's life is like a fly to you ,but for me, it's a treasure I wish to keep for as long as I could."

"I'm ready to walk away and act like nothing happened and those words were not said." As she said this, she already put her hands on the doorknob, ready to get out of this place.

However, before she could totally give enough strength to open it, Alexander disappeared from his seat and suddenly appeared in front of her.

It was too sudden that she didn’t even need to blink to see him standing before her. Too fast that she didn’t even get to put her hands on the dagger strapped to her thigh. Now, she wondered who would win if they battled against each other.

"That is not an option, Miss Ambrose,” he said.

She asked, "Why not? We haven't signed any papers that restricts me, so I don't see any reason why I can't walk away from this."

"Because I need you." His response shocked her. He said those words like it was enough to clean up a murderer's crime in front of a court and make the judge agree with him.

"I don't understand." She took a step back away from him. 

Instead of answering, Alexander turned around and went back to the table where he picked up what seemed to look like a brown envelope. He returned to her side with the envelope in his hand.

He handed it out to give it to her and Athena hesitated to touch it. She was sure that what was inside the envelope could only mean trouble if not, it was a Pandora Box that was meant to never be opened, but her curiosity won over her.

Her hand reached for the envelope and tore it open. Inside were photos that could make anyone lurch whatever they had for lunch.

Thankfully, she didn't eat anything before coming here.

The photos were all bloody. Shots of corpses belonging to humans, vampires and werewolves. They were mangled and bloody, their bodies looked so awful that they didn't even match what they used to look like before they died. It made her frown in disgust.

She looked at the humans who laid on the tiled floor in the picture, blood was all over their bodies and they had missing limbs.

However, she didn't see any reason why she should concern herself with what happened to strangers.

"You gotta try harder to change my mind." She looked up at him.

"Look at the last picture." Alexander replied.

Athena did what he said and abruptly stopped. Her breath was caught in her throat as she focused on the last picture.

There were no corpses in it, but it made her skin crawl as she stared at it. In the picture, there was a cauldron lit with fire, it was filled with blood. She didn't need anyone to tell her whose blood was it.

However, that wasn't what made her dizzy. Aside from blood, there was something else inside the cauldron. A photo floating above the blood inside the cauldron. The photo looked like it was cut in half and one person was smiling at the camera.

The woman in the photo was her.

That photo was taken 10 years ago. She was 12 years old at that time and looked so innocent and so clueless of how cruel the world was to her.

Athena did a mental shake and threw the bad memories deep in her soul and looked up, "Where did this happen?"

"In an abandoned warehouse. Here in Amber City. If you have any information, I would be grateful if you tell me now."

Athena fell silent. Her mother's words rang inside her head, telling her not to say a word. To not expose herself. They will never understand.

Alexander smelled her uneasiness and frowned. There was fear mixed with her sweet scent. But why? Was it because of the photo?

He was about to ask her but then, he saw her staring at him.

"I don't know anything.” She lied. “I am also startled to see my photo ending up in that place. Does someone else know about this?"

Athena knew Alexander could feel her fear but she was a professional in this matter and so, when he looked at her, her face looked natural and the fear in her eyes vanished.

She was really shocked when she saw her own photo appearing in that place, but whether she knew something, Athena couldn't get it out of her mouth.

Alexander looked at her face for a few minutes as if ice dripped in her skin and made her hair stand on its ends.

"No." He finally said before shaking his head,  "This matter was kept secret to everyone and all the people involved in this matter have their memories wiped out."

Hypnosis? Athena thought. 

It wouldn't be a surprise to know that Alexander possessed other abilities unique to beasts. It was just that she didn't expect him to also possess the ability unique to vampires to hypnotise someone and use it on his own subordinates. 

Also, why does it feel like there's something more to this?

Athena shook her head and asked,  "How about the families of the dead people?"

"We are keeping in contact with them."

Athena fell silent again but this time, she moved toward the center of the room where the table was situated and sat down. She raised the glass of water and downed it in one gulp.

No matter how she thinks about it, this matter has something to do with her. To her past. And that was enough for her to get involved with it.

As long as she's part of this matter, she could erase everything that could lead to who she was and live a peaceful life again. 

She must be a part of this mission.

Alexander slowly went back to his chair and waited for her to calm down.

The two of them sat in complete silence.

Finally, Athena breathed and said, "What do I have to do?"