Curse The Mainframe! 325 Silent Shadow

Alec silently shadowed the white robe as they stalked around the place, circling the black robes, sounding particularly murderous.

The man or woman had started singling out people that they felt were particularly stupid and inane, taking risks that didn't pay off.

It was a far cry from the previous genial-sounding tone that they used to greet the members of their organisation.

They didn't let off the ones that did stupid things but had it pay off, because it was sheer dumb luck – according to them anyway – Alec could see that there were some people that railed under the scolding, trying to school their murderous expressions away with little success, while others ducked their head down and looked contrite.

Most of them, however, were just angry. Since Alec couldn't see their faces, he had to rely on their heartbeats as well as their body language.

"Who's 14910?" the white robe said with an uncharitable voice after having gone through the various transgressions, seemingly coming to the big fault of the night.

The only thing was, Alec had expected a lot more murder and mayhem, but there was nothing of the sort. It was mostly just las.h.i.+ng them verbally and nothing else, which left him disappointed.

For a supposed slave trade organisation, it was rather tame, wasn't it?

He knew that they didn't have any qualms about murdering the slaves under their rule, even though there were rules that they had to follow. Such as it only being three maximum a day, and one minimum.

For what, he still had yet to find out, but he had a feeling that if he managed to get the white robe, their questions would all be answered.

Didn't that woman in the café say how the man should keep his thoughts to himself lest his head go flying?

Was that just a metaphor?

14910 stepped forward, and Alec was pretty sure that this was the man that he'd trailed after for a good part of the afternoon.

His heartbeat sounded the same, and he wasn't nervous either, which made it a lot easier for Alec to identify him.

"I am 14910, Inspector Fade."

There was a brief silence as Inspector Fade stared at 14910, and the silence in the building grated obviously on the man, who fidgeted despite himself.

Inspector Fade lashed out, and the man looked up at the white robe, shocked. His hood fluttered and fell off, and the man blinked before his hands reached up to his neck. He felt as if something had pa.s.sed through, and there was a pain that started to blossom.

There was a brief moment of silence before 14910 made a gurgling sound, and his head cleanly slid off his shoulders, landing on the floor. His eyes went gla.s.sy.

There were cries of shock, and the heartbeats in the room increased a lot.

Alec's brows shot up.

There was the violence that he'd been expecting upon walking into this place. But he supposed that even the shadiest of organisations couldn't kill off their members left and right.

Or were they still waiting for someone to storm in?

There were a few heartbeats that were louder than the rest, drowning out the rest of the startled heartbeats. It tasted of fear and apprehension.

It was probably these people that had been part of the operation as well.

"Let this be a warning to you," Inspector Fade said, glaring at them from under the hood. "The organisation doesn't tolerate mistakes, and we don't do second chances. If you don't listen to the rules, then you will end up like 14910."

There were a chorus of hasty agreements from the black robes, and the white robe finally felt like they'd made their point clear enough.

"Dismissed," Inspector Fade said, their voice clipped. Unlike the black robes, there was something masking the white robe's voice, but there was a single defining feature.

That was the person's nails. They were painted with a sort of s.h.i.+ne, and it caught in the light a little. However, Alec was reluctant to label them a female just because of that.

"7990, 7991, stay back," Inspector Fade commanded, their voice brooking no disagreement.

The rest of the people quickly filed out of the building in set intervals, while two black robes stayed back.

"Remove your hood," the white robe commanded.

7990 and 7991 removed their hood, revealing female twins. They were identical in every way, from the way their eyebrows arched to the cut and style of their hair.

"Which one of you was the one that reported 14910's insubordination?"

The twin on the left stepped forward, bowing their head submissively. "7990, Inspector Fade."

"Good," the white robe said. "Should anyone else do anything out of line, you may contact me directly."

"Yes!" the twins responded in kind.

Alec raised his brows. There was something off. Rather than their heartbeat increasing in delight, it sounded more like dread, worry and apprehension.

Just what did they have to worry about?

Actually, now that Alec thought of it, since when had he been able to differentiate what a person was feeling from mere sound alone?

He'd continued Awakening his hearing since he considered it important, but he hadn't realized that his hearing had crossed the degree that a human should be able to reach.

Even Blanche had remarked how his hearing was better than hers.

But this was good. Very good. It would allow him to differentiate lies from truth, as well as differentiate obvious emotions.

He had been Awakening his five senses the whole time, which probably also slowed down his progression into the advanced tier a lot, but to him, the trade off was worth it.

Alec moved a little closer to Inspector Fade, wondering when the best time to capture them was. He'd already prepped several seals to use while the white robe had been putting on dramatics.

But now, he was more interested in the twin women that stood before him. Their expressions and their words didn't match what they were feeling inside.

It intrigued him.

But only a little.

He wasn't so foolish as to compromise his and Blanche's plan just because of a few external factors that caught his interest.

More than that, his gut was telling him not to bother with them just yet.

"Leave," Inspector Fade commanded after giving the twins a few more praises and barely veiled warnings.

The twins bowed and gracefully bowed out, all but fleeing the place, but having the smarts not to do it obviously.

Inspector Fade scoffed and their hand disappeared under the hood, presumably brus.h.i.+ng their hair.

Immediately after the white robe was the only one left in the building, Blanche crashed through the top window, causing the white robe to jerk in shock. Shattered gla.s.s shards rained down from above.

While they were distracted, Alec darted forward, the seal already starting up as it neared the white robe.

However, inconceivably, they dodged it by the barest hints of a fraction, causing the seal to go wide.

At this time, the white robe's hood had fallen off, revealing a woman. She looked plain, but her eyes glowed with power.

She grinned at the two of them, her teeth pulled more into a snarl than a normal grin, but it appeared to be her version of a smile.

Luckily, both Blanche and Alec had taken to wearing the cloaks to prevent their ident.i.ty from being leaked even if they fully expected to capture this woman here and now. It was remarkably similar to the plain black cloaks and robes that the previous members donned.

Inspector Fade let out a high laugh, and it sounded startlingly maniacal.

Alec wondered what it said about his choice of subordinates when it reminded him a little of Dominique's laugh.

"Now, who are you?" Inspector Fade chuckled, looking way too entertained for someone who was potentially in danger.

Then again, it was nothing too out of place if they were a Sin like Alec was.

Inspector Fade's eyes danced as they took in Blanche and Alec before she grinned savagely, ripping at something on her chest.

Blanche lurched forward, feeling like something was wrong, but the white robe's eyes rolled back as what seemed like a ma.s.s of magic left the person, leaving them dead on the floor.

Alec swore.