“I can only assume that someone sent that message on her IHT in order to buy time. I already sent a backup unit to Romanesque City. They will take action soon… I must apologize to you for breaching our contract,” Erica said weakly.
“…I doubt they will kill her,” she continued. “They will likely use her as a bargaining chip to make insane demands of me. They want to force me into a situation where my ability to look out for my own family and, by extension, this city, will be called into question. All in order to drag me out of my position as mayor.”
Zelaide wasn’t listening to her.
“…Who?” he growled. Who’s the ringleader?
“Senator Ziggurat Haydn,” Erica gave a perfunctory answer.
“…The guy who kept criticizin’ me…”
“That’s the one. He has had an unusual interest in Euphemia for a while now. He kept inviting her to his vacation home…”
It made sense why Euphemia’s actions had been leaked to the other side if Haydn was behind it. He didn’t have to risk exposure by planting a spy directly beside the cautious and shrewd mayor when he could freely walk the halls of City Hall. All he had to do was ask a leading question like “Oh, was that the mayor’s sister I just saw…?” and staff would provide him as much information as he sought. It was such a natural and trivial occurrence that they didn’t have to report it to Erica.
Every incident until now had been a part of his schemes.
“He has Yumi—”
“There hasn’t been any report or witnesses that he does,” Erica said quickly before Zelaide could jump to conclusions. “The emergency signal on the micro IHT I gave Ronaldo Garcia went off about an hour ago, but the weak signal died a minute later. I tracked the signal down to the tallest building in Romanesque City. It belongs to Haydn.”
“Garcia?”
Zelaide remembered the young man who worked with Euphemia. He skillfully hid his fear as he joked around with Zelaide. That was a typical human male’s attitude toward Beast Bloods. He was one of Erica’s minions.
Ziggurat Haydn, the influential Gothic City senator and owner of the world’s biggest conglomerate. And Kreutz Burhardt, Haydn’s lackey and Euphemia’s direct boss who worked behind the scenes to make all sorts of things go awry.
Those two men had been watching Zelaide and Euphemia from City Hall and the laboratory. They had shed their skin and were baring their poisonous fangs out in the open for the first time.
There was no time to waste.
Think. Think! What would I do if I was in their shoes?
They might not kill Euphemia. But that didn’t matter anymore. They had stolen Zelaide’s mate from him.
Zelaide’s pupils thinned into needles. Visibility narrowed and his breathing came shallow and fast.
“I’ll kill ’em.”
The rumbling in the back of his throat made audible sound. Turning whiter than a sheet, Erica stared at him.
“I’ll kill ya too if anything happens to her.” Zelaide’s voice came out harder than a gun barrel.
“That’s right. I even put my one and only little sister’s life on the line.” The color may have left her skin, but Erica’s voice didn’t falter. “Haydn is Gothic City’s media king, the CEO of one of this world’s leading conglomerates, a senator, and a likely contender for the next mayor. He is also the one responsible for distributing Nightz throughout the world. His reach is beginning to extend to the other colonies even… I needed unshakable evidence to corner him… Preferably catching him in the middle of a crime red-handed. I only recently became convinced it was him. But I couldn’t catch him no matter how I tried. He frequently visits Romanesque City, so I thought I might be able to uncover something there…which is why I sent Mia…”
“……”
Zelaide’s angry gaze silently sliced into the mayor. She was probably also imagining all the horrible possibilities that awaited her sister. Murderous rage bubbled inside him. But he shouldn’t direct that fury at Erica. His thoughts kept reminding his curling fists of that.
“You are infuriated…with me. But this was the only chance. I was informed that he was heading to Romanesque City for plausible business reasons. He must have approached Mia pretending their encounter was a coincidence. I also had eyes on Haydn, but I suddenly stopped hearing from them all at once.”
Tension pervaded the cramped room.
Erica’s IHT lit up as if to break through the intensity. It was a direct video message from Murakami. Erica tapped the back of her ear turning on the speaker implanted within and took the call. Shock instantly colored her dark eyes.
“Burhardt escaped! Murakami is seriously injured!” she cried.
“What?” Zelaide jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process. Erica was still in the middle of her video call.
“…Yes… I understand. I will be right there.”
“What happened?!” he shouted, impatience coursing through him.
Erica sunk into the chair, broken. “…Murakami had the tides turned against him when he tried to launch a sneak attack on Burhardt. One of the Guardians with him was fatally wounded. Murakami also has severe injuries. Aahhh! I was naïve! Mia!” She covered her mouth and half-sobbed. It was the first time Erica cried.
“I’m going!” Zelaide bellowed. His teal eyes flashed silver.
“…Zelaide?”
“I’m gonna rescue her.”
Those were the words Erica would have given anything to hear. She lifted her face from her hands like a malfunctioning robot. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks drained of color.
“Zelaide…why do you go so far for her…?” she asked in a cracked voice.
“My contract isn’t up yet. That’s all,” the Beast Blood said, his face turned away from her.
“…All right. Zelaide Silvergray, I leave everything in your hands. Please protect Euphemia…my precious sister.”
“On it!”
Zelaide barreled into the dark city streets.
Yumi. Euphemia… Wilds take me! Let me get to her in time!
✦ ✦ ✦
†††
A silver car sped down the night freeway like a bolt of lightning.
Only certain vehicles were granted permission to drive at this hour. Mostly tractor trailers loaded with large containers. The silver car darted into the darkness, slipping passed the trucks that moved as slow as they were large.
Thick shadows hung over the Wilds. How many hours had his foot pressed down the accelerator since parting with Erica?
Anger and sorrow bore down on him.
I said I’d protect her…
A wide-scale search was conducted throughout Gothic City, but Kreutz Burhardt’s whereabouts were as unknown as the deep forests of the Wilds. There wasn’t a single clue to go off. Worst yet, his apartment was practically empty. No pictures, memos, clothes, tableware, or anything else that revealed someone lived there. It seemed suspicious that was even his residence. There was no proof of his identity, no evidence of his past, and no fingerprints or even a strand of hair left behind.
“Chwirk?” Tipsy chirped from his perch in the back seat.
The tiny Muta swooped down when Zelaide hopped in his car and took advantage of his master’s haste to fly inside the car with him.
“Tip! Don’t fly! Stay seated!” Zelaide yelled.
The tiny winged Muta didn’t understand his words, but stayed perched, almost as if he sensed his master’s anger.
“The city! Yumi! Euphemia!” Zelaide shouted toward the mountains rising over the road ahead. The strong lights glaring below the mountains looked like a huge tomb. A large ring of light clung to the gently sloping hills.
Romanesque city.
Wait for me! I’ll find you…even if it kills me!
Zelaide stepped on the accelerator until the pedal hit the floor.