The white-coated lab assistants moved about in choreographed silence, while some stood before a large table drawing pipettes of fluid from tiny tubes and transferring them into a vile. Frank walked into the laboratory, William following behind, barely able to keep up with his swift strides. They entered the same cabin that was labelled, ‘special project’. Just like before, Frank slid a card through the electric door, opening it, and they both walked in. William’s eyes widened at the sight of Eulich lying lifeless on the bed in the centre of the room. Her body had been wrapped in a plastic bag that covered her body just up to her neck, and her eyes were wide open in a disturbing stare. He came and stood at her side. “How did this happen?” “Someone came in last night and strangled her in her sleep. We are yet to identify who it was.” Frank walked to where she lay and pushed the plastic bag that’d covered her body to reveal several scratch marks on her skin. “Judging from the cuts on h

William had his gaze fixed on Catherina; his breath caught in his throat. He was as shocked as everyone else in the room. “When did this happen?” “This footage was recorded several hours ago,” Catherina answered politely. “Precisely 9:45 am this morning.” “A masked shifter?” Frank said in total disbelief. “This is going to be very difficult. How are we going to find him if we can’t place an ID on him? Mrs Eulich was our best chance at finding these shifters and eliminating them, but now she is gone, what do we do?” Scott was clueless. He had not a single idea of what was being discussed. After a long, thoughtful silence, William finally answered, “We wait.” His eye narrowed, and he rested his lower jaw on his hands. “The mayor had appointed Lawrence Linus as president to take over command of the taskforce in my place. Lawrence promised to get rid of every shifter here in the city within a week. We shall wait to see how he intends to do this.” ### The sky was a fair maiden with bl

It was midnight, and Kevin sat outside Pittsburgh bar, drinking himself to stupor. He sat there to process all that Leonard had said to him; it was just too much information to take in. Just then, he painfully remembered Lena’s body hanging from the ceiling. He took a sip from the bottle of vodka which sat on the table before him— wincing as the fiery liquid found his tongue. After a moment, the thought of his earlier encounter with Leonard was erased momentarily from his memory, but that of Lena hanging from the ceiling lingered like a parasite that just wouldn’t go away—devastating him even more. Kevin blamed himself for their death; Lena, Mirabel, and Loretta. If he hadn’t shown up in their lives, they’d still be alive. He woozily dropped the sixth vodka bottle, causing the rest on the table to rattle. “Another bottle, please!” he hooted to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper went in to get his order. Kevin felt woozy as he stared at the empty bottles sitting on the table before him.

Landry drove through the large gate into William’s mansion. He stopped in front of a Nissan Terrano II which was parked inside the carport alongside the large apartment. Kevin got out first, then offered to help Natasha. “Thank you. I can get off on my own.” She turned him down rather impolitely. He was taken a little aback by her abruptness. Getting down from the car, she bolted past him, climbing up the mini-stairs on the facade of the large bungalow. She knocked and stood with her arms folded while waiting behind the door. She didn’t turn to look at him. Landry noticed the tension between them but kept silent, making a mental note to talk to Kevin about it later. “Dad! Damien!” Natasha called and stepped back a few paces after knocking. A moment passed and no answer. She climbed up the stairs to hit the door again, this time a little louder than before. “Is anyone home?” She shuffled backward and waited, folding her arms and avoiding Kevin’s gaze. When it appeared no one was c

Derik drove into a large conference room beside the police department. He took out his phone to confirm it was the address that William had texted him. Then he got out of his car and walked past the security guards standing outside into the hall. There, he met a large crowd. He marvelled at how big the whole place was. Frank, head of the forensic laboratory, was there. The entire police force in the city was present. And so was Scott. They were all seated in an orderly arrangement. Looking up at the podium, he saw William addressing the crowd. And next to him was TCU’s new president, Sir Lawrence Linus. Beside Lawrence sat a muscular, dark-skinned soldier wearing dark glasses. He had a flagitious look as he stared towards the crowd from his dark shades. He had an M16A1 gun strapped to his left shoulder and was chewing a gun. Derik walked through the attentive crowd, up the front row as he searched for an empty seat. William’s voice became audible as he reeled towards the front. “—