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SOMEONE’S coming, Zelaide thought from where he lay on a simple, hard bed. He didn’t need to sit up to sense them.
The isolation cell was separated from the interrogation room next door by one-way mirrors, but Zelaide’s heightened senses alerted him to activity outside the walls. Someone was coming outside the usual interrogation time, but he didn’t care since they were probably only coming to hound him about a murder he didn’t commit or to beat him up for the heck of it.
I don’t give a damn what they want.
Zelaide did his best to bury his thoughts since being stuffed in this cell. He was actually grateful for their harsh, inhumane treatment. After all, he didn’t have to think while they hit him. His heart bled whenever his thoughts went to Manuela and Euphemia. It was only when the police punched and kicked him that he could briefly forget his inability to protect the women close to him.
Countless bruises and welts marred his body where they relentlessly beat him. Beast Bloods were tough, but they still felt pain and got injured when beaten. They could just take a harder beating than humans and they healed much faster.
Like being bitten by fleas.
Zelaide lifted only his head to look down at the contusions on his abdomen and arms. His superior regeneration had erased the black and blue marks inflicted just yesterday. He loathed how unbreakable he was. That was yet another thing that set him apart from humanity. As he vacantly stared at his recovering bruises, the room dimmed, making it possible to see through the one-way mirror on his side. At the same time, a panel with a speaker and several switches opened near the mirror.
Today marked the fourth day since his arrest.
“Pardon the intrusion.” A young man with a solid, muscular build entered the room.
He wore casual clothes and didn’t seem to be an interrogator. He had spiked, short black hair. Seemingly honest and upright eyes looked Zelaide over with great curiosity. It was a look humans had given him since he was a boy.
But unlike the people whose faces twisted with discrimination, this young man was open-minded and immediately smiled when he noticed Zelaide was watching him.
“Yo, Beast Blood.” The young man cheerfully raised his right hand in greeting. Zelaide had absolutely no interest in him, but sat up in bed to see where this was going. “They’ve been pounding you hard, huh? But you haven’t fought back like they expected. Surprising!”
“……”
“Then again, it won’t get you anywhere if you go wild in there. Not even a Beast Blood can break down these walls,” the young man said as he sat on the chair facing the one-way mirror. “I’m Wei Lin-jie. Just your run-of-the-mill cop. Ever hear about me from Mia? Whoa.” Wei nearly jumped out of his chair. “That’s a killer look you’re giving me. Scary.”
The moment he mentioned Euphemia’s nickname the Beast Blood glared at him with glowing eyes.
“Uncle, uncle! Douse the bloodlust, would ya? It’s worse than I was told.”
“Who are you?” Zelaide snarled. That wasn’t a question but a demand.
The man called himself a cop, but Zelaide didn’t recognize his face. He didn’t look like any of the cops who sat in on the police brutality conducted under the pretense of “questioning”. But maybe he was there and just didn’t draw Zelaide’s attention. His memory was foggy because of the beating he took chained to the wall. To Zelaide, low-ranking, grunt officers who wore the same uniforms and couldn’t be told apart weren’t much different from Euphemia’s pet gerbils.
“Do you have a bad memory? Or did they hit you so hard it made you stupid? I told you, I’m Wei, a cop. And I’m also a friend of Mia’s from university. I’m captain of the officers who joined at the same time as me—ah, never mind. I doubt you care.”
“And? What do you want from me? They’ve already questioned the living daylights outta me. How many times do I have to repeat myself for ya to go away?”
“C’mon, don’t send me away yet. Looks like they’re really giving you a hard time though. Questioning doesn’t usually involve beatings. Cops are supposed to be on the side of the citizens. But you aren’t a citizen.”
“So I’m treated like a punchin’ bag because I’m not a citizen? The Guardians were gentlemen compared to you cops.”
“Probably are. They’re an elite squad. They don’t waste their time questioning and investigating people. I’m not one of them, but there are many police officers who hate them. But let’s get back to the point. You’re likely getting the third-degree because someone up high ordered it. You sure ruffled some big shot’s feathers. Any idea who?”
“I’ve ruffled plenty of feathers. I’m surprised the whole coop hasn’t come after me yet.”
“I bet. With a face like that, every man’s gonna have a bone to pick with you.” Wei observed the silver-haired man who looked sexy even to a straight guy.
“Come back another time if you’re here to screw around.”
“I don’t got that kinda time. And let me be clear, I didn’t just suddenly decide to drop by and see you today. I’ve been involved since day one. You probably didn’t know it, but Mia came asking for info on you about a month ago. That’s why I was surprised when I overheard they arrested you. Weren’t you Mia’s bodyguard?”
“Don’t call her Mia,” Zelaide snarled. Hearing Wei call Euphemia by the nickname her friends used annoyed him to no end.
“…Wow, you’re a royal pain in the ass. You got the hots for Mia or something?”
“I don’t got the hots. She’s just a client.”
Zelaide curtly denied it, but Wei looked at him through narrowed eyes and frowned. The young man didn’t look convinced, but even then he had this charming allure.
Euphemia trusts this man?
At any rate, he didn’t seem especially frightened of Zelaide just because he was a Beast Blood.
“Uh-huh. She outright turned me down in the past,” Wei confessed with a sullen edge to his voice.
“Heh. Sucks for you.”
“Shut up. I won’t tell you about Mia if you keep talking smack.”
The Beast Blood’s shoulders lurched forward. “Yumi… You met up with Euphemia?”
“Yeah, yesterday. I nearly wet myself when I was suddenly called into City Hall. She’s currently being confined to a room deep inside that labyrinth of a government building. She was a crying mess. That was my first time seeing Mia cry in the six years I’ve known her.”
“She…was crying…”
Zelaide felt like his heart was being torn to shreds. It was his first time experiencing heartache imagining someone crying out of earshot.
She cried… Don’t cry over a beast like me, Yumi.